Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Be honest. How many people saw Regina getting off to a 5-0 start this season?

There is at least one person that can honestly say the Regals strong start is no surprise.

“I thought so, I’m not surprised,” first-year Regina head coach Mary Halvorsen said when asked if she believed her team could be 5-0 to start the year. “We have a good group of returners, a lot of experience and we have depth that is going to keep growing and getting better.”

Halvorsen makes a strong point.

Still, it’s easy to see why there were doubters.

Regina was 10-11 last season, lost its top scorer to graduation and its head coach. Not many people pegged Regina for a strong start this season.

Even fewer figured the Regals would be unbeaten and one win away from entering January atop the River Valley Conference South Division standings.

Yet that is the position Regina finds itself in after an impressive 58-18 win over Durant (2-6, 2-4) on Tuesday in an RVC South Division tilt in Iowa City.

Regina improved to 5-0 on the season and in RVC play and joins West Liberty and Cascade as the lone remaining unbeatens teams in the conference.

The Regals can post a perfect pre-holiday record with a win over Northeast (3-3) on Friday.

Not bad for a team with a first-time head coach and a pair of new starters in the lineup.

“We are playing fairly well, we have a lot of stuff to get better at but I’m super happy,” Halvorson said. “Who doesn’t want to start their first year 5-0? We are rolling we just have to keep it going.”

Two of the Regals’ returning starters did most of the damage on Tuesday as senior Sam Greving had 18 points and junior Annie Gahan added 12.

Regina also showed its youth as sophomore Lillian Simpson chipped in 10 points and freshman starter Grace Gaarde had four points and four steals.

“We’ve had some people step up which has really helped us surprise teams,” Greving said. “Just as a team we have had a lot of people step up (sophomore) Alli Dillon and Grace Gaarde have stepped up into bigger roles and done a great job.”

After winning four consecutive road games to open the season Regina struggled out of the gate in its home opener on Tuesday.

It took more than four minutes for Regina to get on the scoreboard and the Regals trailed 2-0 when Halvorsen took a timeout with 4:01 left in the opening quarter.

Greving responded by scoring the first seven Regina points and had nine of her 18 in the opening quarter as Regina built a 12-6 lead.

“I’ve been playing the game really fast in my head and I just sat down and told myself I had to slow down,” Greving said. “I just had to slow down and once I did that I was fine.”

It was all Regina the rest of the way.

The Regals scored 14 straight points in the second quarter holding Durant scoreless for 7:20 before Halle Collier scored on a putback with two seconds left in the first half.

Regina led 28-9 at the half and scored the first 13 points of the third quarter.

“We usually start pretty slow and that’s how it’s been even at practice sometimes too,” Gahan said. “It just comes down to taking a deep breath and relaxing and then we can get more into the flow and we are good.”

Regina shot 46 percent from the floor on Tuesday including 65 percent over the final three quarters.

Greving and Gahan combined to make 12-of-20 field goal attempts including 3-of-5 from 3-point range.

“We are passing the ball to get that open shot,” Greving said. “Someone will pass up an open shot to get a better shot and that really helps us.”

Regina didn’t allow more than seven points in a quarter, limited to Durant to 15 percent shooting and forced 19 turnovers.

“We really focus on defense in practices,” Gahan said. “The communication from player to player has improved so much already and it’s going to grow throughout the season.

Nicole Brown and Heidi Wolf each had four points for Durant.

Regina            12  16  18  12 –  58

Durant             6    3    2    7  –  18

Regina (58) – Berlyn O’Connor 1-2 0-0 2, Annie Gahan 5-8 0-0 12, Grace Gaarde 2-4 0-0 4, Claire Gaarde 3-3 2-2 8, Lillian Simpson 5-7 0-0 10, Hope Simpson 1-2 1-1 3, Natalie Franklin 0-0 1-2 1, Allison Dillon 0-4 0-0 0, Sam Greving 7-12 3-3 18, Team 24-42 7-8 58.

Durant (18) – Nicole Brown 2-8 0-0 4, Jordyn Ostrand 0-1 0-0 0, Ally Happ 0-2 0-0 0, Elizabeth Daufeldt 1-2 0-0 2, Kira Schult 1-4 0-0 2, Halle Collier 1-6 0-0 2, Kylie Kay 0-9 0-0 0, Kylie Schult 0-0 1-2 1, Heidi Wolf 1-5 2-3 4, Allie Poston 0-2 3-4 3, Team 6-39 6-9 18.

3-point field goals – ICR 3-8 (A. Gahan 2-4, G. Gaarde 0-1, H. Simpson 0-1, Dillon 0-1, Greving 1-1), DUR 0-13 (Brown 0-5, Ki. Schult 0-2, Kay 0-3, Wolf 0-3). Rebounds – ICR 29 (C. Gaarde 6), DUR 22 (Poston 3). Turnovers – ICR 14, DUR 19. Total fouls – ICR 10, DUR 10. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

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