Post-Bulletin, Austin MN
DECORAH, Iowa — The Riverland women’s basketball lost 60-53 in overtime to the Luther College junior varsity on Saturday.
The visiting Lady Blue Devils of Riverland had an 11-point lead in the closing minutes of regulation, but couldn’t make it stand. After a cold shooting first half from both teams the score was tied 19-19 at halftime.
In the second half, the Lady Devils got their offense rolling somewhat and took a 45-34 lead with four minutes to play. But fouls and turnovers cost the Riverland women their lead.
Luther scored inside the final minute of regulation and tied the game at 49-all. Riverland then had a chance with the last shot, but the ball bounced off the rim on a final three-point attempt and the game went into overtime.
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"We couldn’t hit a basket in the final four minutes of the second half, and didn’t play well enough on defense to win the game," Riverland coach Suzy Hebrink said. "We had a horrible shooting day and got beaten badly on the boards. We gave up 15 offensive rebounds, and they also shot a lot of free throws in the second half."
Brooke Monson was the only Riverland player to score in double figures. Monson had 12 points, six rebounds, and four blocked shots in the loss.
Mandy May, AunDreah Aune, and Justine Sanvick all had nine points for the Lady Devils. May had a three-pointer, along with three steals and five rebounds. Sanvick tallied six rebounds, three steals, and a pair of assists, before fouling out with three minutes left in regulation.
Anna Hebrink had a rough day of shooting as she made only one field goal for a total of six points in the setback. Krissy Schemmel added six points. Lizzie Gunter had two points and five rebounds.
Savannah Sawle cleaned up for the Luther junior varsity with a game-high 29 points. Riverland shot just 16-for-68 from the field, which included a 4-for-23 performance from beyond the arc.
"Our top three shooters only had seven field goals combined in the game, so they had a bad day," coach Hebrink said. "Justine fouled out with about three minutes left and that hurt our defensive effort in the overtime period. All in all, we just want to regroup and forget about this loss. It was a disappointing game and performance, now we have to get ready for our home opener."
Riverland (2-2) plays in front of the home fans for the first time this season on Wednesday night against the Gustavus Adolphus junior varsity. The women’s game is scheduled for a 6 p.m. tip-off at the Austin campus.
