Lady Broncos handed first league loss by Colfax

After the second full week of basketball the Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Lady Broncos are 6-1 for the season.

Winning two out of the last three league games, they currently sit at the top of their league.

They hosted Tekoa-Rosalia on Tuesday, Dec. 16, where they defeated the Timberwolves 71-54.

Head coach John Galbreath said the girls played an excellent game, with five players scoring double-digit figures.

In the third quarter Tekoa-Rosalia made a run and took the lead from the Lady Broncos. Galbreath said he liked how the girls held their composure and retook the lead from the Timerwolves.

Tommi Swannack led the Lady Broncos in scoring with 16 points. Jenna Bennett put up 15 points during the evening’s contest as well. Mallory Kessler and Peyton Curtis both contributed 12 points to the Bronco victory and Tessa Jantz added a further 10 points.

On Friday, Dec. 19, LRS traveled to Colfax to face the Bulldogs in a tough away game.

“That was a fun game,” Galbreath said.

The Lady Bulldogs took the lead against the Lady Broncos during the first quarter.

The Lady Broncos picked up the lead in the second quarter and after intense competition they trailed Colfax by two points at the half.

In the fourth quarter the Lady Broncos were down six points with about two minutes of play left.

“We were able to make a run,” Galbreath said.

Curtis hit a big three-point basket for the Lady Broncos to close the gap and then Swannack tied the game with two free throws with 11 seconds left in the game.

Galbreath said he thought the game would go into overtime because he believed the LRS defense would be able to hold off the Colfax effort.

“I didn’t think they were going to get a good look,” he explained. “And they didn’t really get a good look.”

The Lady Bulldogs were able to get through the Lady Bronco defense and put a shot in off the glass, beating the Lady Broncos by two points.

Jantz and Curtis both scored 12 points during the game.

Galbreath said he was proud of the team effort.

“We just have a couple errors to clean-up against Colfax,” Galbreath explained.

“And if we can do it I feel comfortable and confident that we’ll take the game the next time we play them.”

The Lady Broncos turned around and hosted the St. George’s Dragons on Saturday, Dec. 20.

Galbreath said at the start of the game the Lady Broncos seemed to lag a little bit after a tough away game the night before.

“We had a really slow start,” he said.

The Lady Broncos had a difficult time shooting during the first half and in the second quarter they made two out of 17 shot attempts from the field.

“We couldn’t buy a bucket,” Galbreath explained.

In addition to struggling to put points on the board, the Lady Broncos had to contend with two skilled Lady Dragons when on defense.

In the second half the Lady Broncos found their stride and put up 22 points in the third quarter.

They went from being down six points to leading by 10 points in one quarter. The Lady Broncos defeated the Lady Dragons 52-37.

“That was a team we struggled with last year,” Galbreath said.

Jantz scored 13 points during the evening with Bennett contributing 11 and Kessler scoring her nine points in the second half.

Swannack, Jantz and Bennett also contributed high rebounding stats for the Lady Broncos in Saturday’s game, each pulling down eight rebounds during the evening’s contest.

The Lady Broncos have a break until their next game against Dayton on Jan. 2 and Kettle Falls on Jan. 3.

Galbreath said over the break the team will work on improving efficiency and blocking out in preparation for the games to come.

Galbreath is excited to face-off against an opponent from another district.

“It’s always good to have a good showing and performance and just send a statement a little bit,” he explained.

The Lady Broncos will travel to Dayton on Jan. 2 before hosting Kettle Falls at 4:30 p.m. in Gilson Gymnasium on Saturday, Jan. 3.