Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Mary Rogers can list all the challenges that her Regina team faces playing three games in a span of four days.

Junior guard Alli Clark knows those challenges.

Clark also knows one of the biggest positives that comes with a busy schedule is there is no time to dwell on the past.

Class 2A eighth-ranked Regina will look to move forward quickly on Friday after suffering its first loss of the season on Thursday.

Regina (2-1) shot just 33 percent from the floor and committed 17 turnovers in a 53-44 loss to 3A fifth-ranked Benton Community (3-1) in a non-conference contest in Iowa City.

The Regals return to action on Friday with a trip to Camanche (1-1) for a River Valley Conference cross-divisional clash.

“I think it helps because we can use it as motivation to get the next game,” Clark said. “We are a little bit tired, we aren’t 100 percent, but it’s nice to get a chance for redemption.”

The three games in four days routine is one Regina will get used to in the next few weeks.

Regina, which opened the season with back-to-back wins over Williamsburg and Maquoketa, will play Tuesday, Thursday and Friday games in each of the next two weeks.

Rogers is aware but she won’t make excuses.

“We are a small team and I don’t play a ton of kids but we have three games a week for the next three weeks,” Rogers said. “There are no excuses to that, we have to be ready. You have to put it behind you and keep pushing.”

Regina had its chances on Thursday.

The Regals were event at 14 after one quarter before Benton Community scored 20 points in the second quarter while building a 34-26 halftime lead.

Benton was 9-of-15 from the field in the second quarter and shot 38 percent from the field for the game but committed just five turnovers.

“Coming off a big win on Tuesday I just thought tonight we came out and it was a struggle defensively and you could see it,” Rogers said. “There is no secret to what failed us a little bit tonight.”

Regina got as close as 38-34 with a 6-0 third-quarter run in which Clark accounted for all six points.

The junior guard had a team-high 15 points and nine rebounds to lead Regina.

“Our shots weren’t falling first off which is a big part of our game and we just weren’t flowing as well on offense as we usually do,” Clark said. “That made it a lot harder to score on them.”

Benton Community scored seven of the next nine points after the 6-0 Clark run to push the lead back to 45-36.

Regina would get no closer than seven the rest of the game.

“We just have to get our offense moving a little more,” Clark said. “They are a good team, they had great defense but we just need to get our offense rolling a little more.”

Jenna Twedt had a game-high 27 points to lead Benton Community while Emma Townsley and Piper Nelson each had 11 for the Bobcats.

“(Twedt) is tough to defend but they had other kids that stepped up too, I know she scored a bulk of their points but it was definitely a team effort on their part to get the job done,” Rogers said. “We just have to shore up somethings going forward.”

Morgan Miller had 13 pinots for Regina while Ella McLaughlin had eight points for the Regals.

Regina                             14  12   8  10  –  44

Benton Community    14  20   6  13  –  53

Regina (44) – Alli Clark 5-12 5-7 15, Grace Gaarde 1-13 0-0 2, Ella McLaughlin 2-5 4-4 8, Caitlin Martin 0-0 2-2 2, Morgan Miller 5-12 0-0 13, Morgan Squiers 1-2 0-0 2, Madelyn Greve 1-1 0-0 2, Jillian Panther 0-1 0-0 0, Totals 15-46 11-13 44.

Benton Community (53) – Emma Townsley 4-8 3-4 11, Piper Nelson 5-7 1-4 11, McKenna Kramer 2-11 0-0 4, Addison Phillips 0-1 0-1 0, Aubrey Kelly 0-1 0-0 0, Jenna Twedt 10-23 4-4 27, Zoey Junge 0-4 0-0 0, Totals 21-55 8-13 53.

3-point field goals – ICR 3-19 (Clark 0-3, Gaarde 0-5, McLaughlin 0-2, Miller 3-9), BC 3-24 (Townsley 0-4, Kramer 0-8, Twedt 3-11, Junge 0-1). Rebounds – ICR 38 (Clark 9), BC 30 (Junge, Twedt, Phillips, Nelson 5). Turnovers – ICR 17, BC 5. Total fouls – ICR 17, BC 15. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

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