Regina edges West Branch to remain unbeaten

WEST BRANCH - Regina carved up West Branch's defense with drives to the basket, building a 15-point third-quarter lead. But just as the game seemed to be slipping away, the Bears clawed back behind a trapping press and had a shot at the buzzer to win or tie before falling 46-44.

The second-ranked Regals took the game by the throat in the second quarter when they scored in nine of 12 possessions. The Regals came into the game knowing that dribble penetration was going to be their ticket, and between Kennedy Brown and Sarah Lehman, they got it.

'I feel like we didn't execute,” Bears Coach Jarod Tylee said. 'We didn't want to leave shooters, and we left shooters. Kennedy Brown killed us in the first half. We let her go the way she wants to go.”

Leading 30-23 at halftime the Regals seemingly broke it open with a 10-2 run to begin the third period. Cammy Verducci and Mary Crompton both hit threes, and Lehman and Brown added goals. Crompton was 4-of-5 from 3-point range for the game and invariably answered a Bear three with one of her own.

The Regals (6-0, 7-0) led 42-27 late in the third when the tide turned. Brown confessed that her team lost its aggressiveness. Regal Coach Matt Bolger took responsibility.

'We took our foot off the accelerator; I thought that hurt us,” he said. 'We needed to keep going. I think it was our change in aggressiveness that hurt us the most.”

'We haven't pressed that much all year, and I didn't know how effective it would be,” Tylee said. 'But the bottom line is our kids fought.”

Three 3-pointers by Tatum Koenig and one by Allyson Simpson helped bring the fifth-ranked Bears (5-1, 7-1) within two points with 16 seconds left. Tylee wanted to set a double screen for Koenig, but it didn't get done and Simpson had to fire up a long shot at the buzzer that missed.