GREENCASTLE, Ind. - It had been a difficult month of December for the Regents women's basketball team as they had gone winless entering Saturday afternoon's game against the Spalding University Golden Eagles. Rockford has had difficulty holding onto first half leads over that stretch and has especially struggled to score points in the second half of games. Just when it looked as though that would continue in this afternoon's game, the ladies dug in and closed out the Golden Eagles for a 66-62 victory.
Once again the Regents played an excellent opening 20 minutes of basketball. Rockford jumped all over Spalding in the opening minutes of the half building an 18-5 lead. Junior guard Erin Ryczek (South Beloit, Ill./Hononegah) was the catalyst for the offense scoring 7 of the team's first 11 points. Rockford continued to build on its lead for the remainder of the half ultimately culminating with a layup by junior Lindsay Lengjak (Roscoe, Ill./Hononegah) in the closing seconds to send the team into halftime with a 39-21 lead.
The Regents saw their halftime advantage evaporate very early in the second half as the Golden Eagles opened the second half strong. After shooting 60.7% (17-28) in the opening half of play, Rockford started the second half shooting 1-12 from the floor allowing Spalding to go on a 23-3 run to take a 44-42 lead with 10:39 remaining in the second half. Subsequently the game went back and forth over the next few minutes with Spalding eventually taking a 51-46 lead, its largest of the day. The Regents would not be denied however, scoring 15 of the next 18 points to put the game away. Rockford was excellent at the free throw line down the stretch connecting on 10 straight from the line to seal the 66-62 win.
Offensively the Regents were led by a pair of juniors and a senior on Saturday. Ryczek finished the afternoon as the team's leading scorer with a season-high 16 points. The junior made both of Rockford's three-point baskets and added 3 rebounds and 2 assists to finish off her day. Lengjak also scored a season-high, pouring in 14 points off the bench. She also added 6 rebounds and 1 steal to her totals. Senior Nicole Lawler (Pearl City, Ill./Pearl City) just missed her first double-double of the season. Lawler scored 9 points and had a team-high 9 rebounds.
With the win, Rockford advances to the championship game tomorrow in the Amy Hasbrook Memorial Tournament against the host and #1 ranked DePauw University Tigers. DePauw won its game this afternoon against Rose-Hulman to advance to tomorrow's title game. Tip-off for the championship game will be at 4:00 p.m.
