By Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports 

IOWA CITY – Following long weeks of conference contests Saturday non-conference games have a tendency to turn into mistake-filled clunkers.

Somebody forgot to tell that to Mary Crompton and Regina.

Crompton poured in a game-high 28 points and Class 2A top-ranked Regina shot 56 percent from the field in a 76-57 win over Cedar Rapids Kennedy in a non-conference contest at Regina.

The win capped a three-game week for Regina which improved to 21-0 on the season after a road win at Camanche on Friday.

“We knew it was going to be a tough week,” Crompton said. “We had three really tough, hard-nosed teams to play this week and we really showed up each and every game, we didn’t take one game lightly and I’m really proud of my team for that.”

Crompton scored 10 of her game-high 28 points during a 16-0 first-quarter run that was part of a 24-4 Regina spurt to open the game.

Cedar Rapids Kennedy (5-14) never got closer than 14 points the rest of the way thanks to some hot shooting from Regina.

“We came out in that first quarter and just really played well,” Regina coach Jeff Wallace said. “We had a lot of great energy and I think we kind of put Kennedy on their heels initially.”

Sarah Lehman had 18 points and Alex Wiese added 16 points and eight rebounds for Regina.

Lehman, Wiese and Crompton combined to score 62 of the Regal’s 76 points while making 24 of 41 field goal attempts.

“We are really sharing the ball,” Lehman said. “That is one of our strengths is how well we play as a team.”

The Regals were razor sharp early on Saturday, shooting 56 percent from the floor including 5-of-10 from 3-point range.

Regina forced Cedar Rapids Kennedy into seven of its 16 turnovers in the first quarter while building a 24-7 lead.

“It’s definitely important to start out strong, it kind of sucks the life out of teams,” Crompton said. “It’s hard to come back from that, it really is especially with the pressure we are putting on the entire game. It’s hard to come back from a deficit.”

Crompton started the 16-0 run with a layup and a 3-point in a span of 30 seconds to put Regina up 8-2 less than two minutes into the game.

By the time Greyson Dumont capped the spurt with a driving layup Regina led 19-2 with 3:08 left in the opening quarter.

“It’s super important to get on top early in these games,” Lehman said. “That run at the start of the game was kind of the difference.”

Regina led 43-28 at the half and put the game away with a 9-2 run to open the second half.

Crompton had a conventional 3-point play during that stretch as Regina took a 52-30 lead midway through the third quarter.

The 5-foot-8 junior finished 9-of-13 from the floor, including 5-of-7 from 3-point range on her way to 28 points.

“She does so many things so well,” Wallace said of Crompton. “The one thing that I have seen in the past from her is that she wasn’t willing to shoot contested shots and now she is willing to do that and we’ve asked her to do that and her ability to drive and shoot it or kick it has really improved this year.”

Hailey Dolphin had 11 of her team-high 26 points in the fourth quarter for Cedar Rapids Kennedy which was coming off a win over Cedar Rapids Washington on Friday.

Regina            24  19  17  16 – 76

CR Kennedy  7   21  14  15 – 57

Regina (76) – Mary Crompton 9-13 5-5 28, Alexa Lehman 2-3 0-0 4, Lauren Gaarde 0-1 0-0 0, Sarah Lehman 8-15 1-3 18, Greyson Dumont 2-4 2-2 6, Kennedy Wallace 0-3 0-0 0, Megan Wick 2-2 0-0 4, Alex Wiese 7-13 2-5 16, Team 30-54 10-15 76.

Cedar Rapids Kennedy (57) – Hailey Dolphin 10-19 5-5 26, Madison Friauf 4-7 4-5 14, Sadie Powell 0-1 0-0 0, Tessa Steffen 2-5 2-4 6, Olivia Hellweg 3-6 0-0 6, McKenna Maus 0-1 0-0 0, Ashley Vis 0-4 0-0 0, Auddie Alepra 1-5 3-4 5, Team 20-48 14-18 57.

3-point field goals – ICR 6-14 (Crompton 5-7, Gaarde 0-1, S. Lehman 1-2, Dumont 0-1, Wallace 0-3), CRK 3-16 (Dolphin 1-1, Friauf 2-4, Powell 0-1, Steffen 0-2, Hellweg 0-3, Maus 0-1, Vis 0-3, Alepra 0-1). Rebounds – ICR 29 (Wiese 8), CRK (Friauf 6). Turnovers – ICR 12, CRK 16. Total fouls – ICR 16, CRK 13. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.