Lady Tigers claw to hard-fought victory
Three St. Regis players foul out
In a highly-contested game with no team leading by more than four points until late in the game, the St. Regis Lady Tigers took a late lead against Two Eagle and held on for a 49-45 home victory Friday, but when the final whistle blew there were only three players left on the court to celebrate.
With just over a minute to play in the third quarter, senior Ryanne Burklund found Heather Pruitt under the basket for two points, giving St. Regis a 28-27 lead. The lead was the Tigers' first since they led 3-2 early in the first quarter. St. Regis finished the quarter outscoring Two Eagle six-to-four and went into the fourth quarter with a 34-31 lead.
The three-point lead wasn't the only thing the Tigers took into the final quarter. They also brought foul trouble with three of St. Regis' six players having four fouls heading into the quarter.
After Two Eagle tied the score at 34, St. Regis sophomore Morgan Hill put back a rebound at 7:02 for two of her eight points in the game. Pruitt was then fouled hard while going in for a layup with 6:35 left in the game. Pruitt calmly hit both of her free throws to give St. Regis a 38-34 lead. Pruitt's free throw shooting played a big part in the Tigers' victory. In a night where the Tigers were 14 for 27 at the line, Pruitt sank seven of her nine foul shots.
After Pruitt's foul shots, Burklund scored four points and Tailor Davis put in six as the Tigers went on a 10-4 run. St. Regis was leading 48-38 with 1:40 left in the game, but then the Tigers' foul trouble started to catch up with them. Pruitt fouled out of the game at 1:33, but not before finishing with a team-high in points, rebounds and assists with 13 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
With the Tigers leading 48-41 with 38 seconds left to play, Davis fouled out. Then after hitting a free throw to give the Tigers an eight-point lead, Brianna Managhan fouled out with under 20 seconds to play. Two Eagle added four points, but it wasn't enough as the Tigers held on for the 49-45 victory to move to 3-4 on the year and 2-2 in conference play.
St. Regis' co-coach Kevin Managhan said to be down three players and still come out with a victory was amazing and should be something the team can build on to turn their season around. "They really dug down deep and they played with their hearts, that's for sure," he said. "I'm really proud of them."
Managhan said the difference in the game was the Tigers not turning the ball over. St. Regis only had 11 turnovers compared to the 43 they had against Lincoln in their previous loss. He said if the Tigers hold on to the ball they can play with anybody in the conference.
Burklund finished with 12 points and Davis finished with nine. Brianna Managhan had six points, four rebounds and three steals and Tyler Cheesman finished with one point and four rebounds.
The Tigers take on the Victor Pirates at home Friday and then travel to Charlo Saturday.