AMC Communications
BILLINGS, Mont. – It was another dominating performance from the No. 1 overall seed Lady Lions (34-2) when they knocked down 16 3-pointers en route to a 82-60 win over Lewis-Clark State (21-12), punching their ticket to the national semifinal game on Monday.
The Lady Warriors were doing everything they could to take junior forward Haylee Croom out of the game by double and sometimes triple teaming her inside. That opened things up for the sharp shooters to get up some open shots, which they knocked down at an alarming rate.
Jamie Crum came off the bench and was a massive spark for the Lady Lions in the first half. She was able to knock down five of 10 attempts from deep to go into the break with 15 points, and the Lady Lions led 37-24 at halftime.
They made nine 3-pointers in the first half and just four 2-point field goals.
Croom was able to get it going inside as well as at the charity stripe in the second half, and she even ended with her third double-double of the tournament in as many games with 22 points and 10 rebounds. But that didn’t deter from the deep-ball shooting they were able to have in the first half.
Crum added two more long balls in the second half to finish the game with 21 points off the bench. Carrie Hatchel made six 3-pointers of her own and finished with 20 points, and Reagen Floyd went 3-for-4 from deep, finishing with 13 points to close out the double-digit scorers for the Lady Lions.
The team ended up going 16-for-30 in the game from beyond the arc, shooting a staggering 53 percent from deep.
Defense played a large roll, just like in Friday’s game. The Lady Lions forced 11 turnovers, scoring 16 points off those turnovers. Hatchel had four steals, and Chynia Brooks had two.
The Lady Lions will take on Montana Western in Monday’s semifinal game set for 7 p.m. Central time.