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Lady Saints to Take on Lake Region State in NJCAA National Tournament 1st Round

Lady Saints to Take on Lake Region State in NJCAA National Tournament 1st Round

Lake Region State College from Devil's Lake, North Dakota will be the Seward County Lady Saints 1st round opponent at next week's NJCAA National Tournament in Salina, Kansas.  As released by the NJCAA on Monday, the Lady Saints and Lady Royals draw the 4:30 PM game on the opening day of the tournament in the Bicentennial Center.  Seward will enter the tournament as the #12 seed while Lake Region enters as the #21 seed. 

 

 Seward received one of four national at-large bids to the tournament after a 27-5 mark following completion of regional play.  Seward will be fairly familiar with the National Tournament field as the Lady Saints played eight games against tournament teams this season, posting a 4-4 record.  Seward's wins over tournament teams came this season against 4th seeded New Mexico, 7th seeded Southern Idaho, 15th seeded Coffeyville, and the tournament's Cinderella team, 24th seeded Murray State.  Seward's four losses to teams competing for the National Championship next week came against top seeded Hutchinson (twice), 11th seeded Salt Lake, and 15th seeded Coffeyville. 

 

Lake Region State is somewhat of an unknown for Lady Saints fans and for good reason as Seward and the Lady Royals have never competed against each other on the hardwood.  The Lady Royals are the Region XIII and District D Champions after earning their bid to the National Tournament following wins against Williston State in their Regional Championship game and Malcolm X in their District Championship game in Chicago on Saturday.  Lake Region is 26-7 on the year heading into the tournament, playing what most would call a far easier schedule during the regular season than the Lady Saints saw.  The only common opponents this season for Seward and Lake Region were Southern Idaho and Cloud County.  The Lady Royals lost to Southern Idaho 92-69 while Seward knocked off the Golden Eagles 61-59 while Lake Region beat Cloud County 70-55 and Seward swept the season series with the T-Birds 69-56 and 87-80.  Lake Region is a high powered scoring team, averaging 81.6 points per game on the season, led by Kennedy Henningsgard and Sara Schwanke who combine to average almost 28 points per game.  The Lady Royals are guard driven with the tallest player on their roster checking in right at 6'0. 

 

The Lady Saints will make the trip up to Salina after a morning practice on Saturday.  Seward will have their first meeting since 2007 with the Bicentennial Center during their official team practice Sunday morning before getting ready for their 1st Round matchup with the Lady Royals at 4:30 Monday.