Fourth-ranked Regina Races Past Tipton at Xtream Arena
Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports
CORALVILLE – Under the tenure of head coach Mary Rogers Regina has always been a fast paced, up-tempo team.
This year’s Regina team may be the fastest and potentially the best group yet for Rogers.
Guards Morgan Miller and Alli Clark combined for 46 points as Regina used its quick tempo offense and pressure defense to race past Tipton 67-42 on Monday in a River Valley Conference South Division tilt at Xtream Arena in Coralville.
“Since we don’t have any height, a big part of our game is pushing the ball and running because we know we are a fast team,” Clark said. “Even though we are small the one thing we can control is our running and our speed so that’s what we do.”
Led by speedy backcourt mates Morgan and Clark the Regals prefer to play at a pace that borders on frantic.
On Monday the pace frazzled Tipton (4-2, 2-1 RVC) into 21 turnovers and 30 percent first-half shooting.
Meanwhile Morgan poured in 27 points on 11-of-16 shooting and Clark added 19 points as Class 2A fourth-ranked Regina improved to 5-1 on the season and 3-0 in RVC South Division play.
“We want to force the tempo and we are mixing up defenses probably more than what we’ve done in the past and we need to use our quickness,” Rogers said. “We try to mix it up and we love to push and I know the girls do too.”
Regina used its fast pace and pressure defense to control things from the opening tip.
Clark scored on a layup four seconds into the game as Regina raced to a 17-5 first-quarter lead.
Miller had nine of her game-high 27 points during the 17-5 burst to open the game on perfect 4-of-4 shooting.
“In the past I feel like we’ve had a problem with digging ourselves holes and then trying to dig out so this year we’ve been really focused on punching from the beginning and just starting off strong and playing hard on defense,” Miller said. “Obviously we love to push in transition and that always gets our energy up.”
Regina led 21-12 after the opening quarter and all but put the game away before halftime outscoring the Tigers 21-2 in the second quarter.
The Regals forced Tipton into 14 first-half turnovers held the Tigers to 1-of-11 shooting in the second quarter and didn’t allow a point over the final 4:20 of the second quarter closing the half on a 16-0 run.
“Our pushing the ball was really good at the beginning of the game because we aren’t tired, we have fresh legs and I think our press was working pretty well,” Clark said. “We were getting up on the ball, getting some pressure and getting those easy layups.”
Caitlin Martin had 13 points for Regina which won its fourth consecutive game.
Regina has won three RVC South games by an average of better than 41 points and continues it conference slate on Tuesday travelling to West Branch.
“We’ve played some tough teams with Benton and Maquoketa and in our conference night in and night out we are going to get everyone’s best,” Rogers said. “I know that everyone is coached well and we are trying to keep things rolling because we have big games to come starting tomorrow night.”
Tipton 12 2 12 16 – 42
Regina 21 21 10 15 – 67
Tipton (42) – Ella Hein 1-1 0-0 2, Paityn Daedlow 1-3 1-2 3, Averie Bolger 1-2 0-0 3, Zoe Holstein 5-7 0-3 10, Storm Snyder 0-4 1-2 1, Addie Nerem 1-3 0-1 2, Alivia Edens 1-4 0-0 2, Carly Langenberg 5-11 2-3 13, Chloe Klabo 1-3 1-2 4, Jordyn Schmidt 1-3 0-0 2, Totals 17-41 5-13 42.
Regina (67) – Alli Clark 7-14 5-7 19, Morgan Miller 11-16 0-0 27, Lucy Nolte 1-3 0-0 2, Ella McLaughlin 1-1 0-0 3, Morgan Squiers 0-5 0-0 0, Caitlin Martin 5-7 3-5 13, Ella Keune 1-4 0-0 2, Maggie Sueppel 0-2 1-2 1, Totals 26-52 9-14 67.
3-point field goals – TIP 3-11 (Daedlow 0-2, Bolger 1-1, Snyder 0-2, Langenberg 1-4, Klabo 1-2), ICR 6-19 (Clark 0-4, Miller 5-9, Nolte 0-1, McLaughlin 1-1, Squiers 0-4). Rebounds – TIP 27 (Edens 5), ICR 28 (McLaughlin 7). Turnovers – TIP 21, ICR 9. Total fouls – TIP 12, ICR 14. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.
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