Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – There are a lot of areas in which second-ranked Regina excels.

The thing Regina does best is get out and run.

Class 2A No. 2 Regina got its transition offense rolling in the second quarter on Tuesday and ran its way to a 75-46 win over Bellevue in a Region 2 quarterfinal in Iowa City.

Seniors Caitlin Martin and Morgan Miller each scored 22 points as Regina (21-1) advanced to the Region 2 semifinal with its 12^th win in a row.

“That’s our bread and butter is running,” Martin said. “That’s how we play and that’s when we are feeling good is when we are getting out and running.”

Regina shot 53 percent from the floor and was efficient in its transition offense while scoring 70 or more points for the 13^th time in 22 games this season.

Freshman Addie McLaughlin added 10 points and Adalee Klein had nine for Regina which will host Cascade (16-7) in the Region 2 semifinals on Friday at 7 p.m.

Cascade defeated Durant 60-43 on Tuesday.

“Transition has always been our naturally flowing offense,” Miller said. “When we can get out and run is when we play our best basketball.”

Bellevue (9-14), which scored just 20 points in a 58-point loss to Regina in December, scored the final five points of the opening quarter and trailed just 18-15.

It was 18-17 after Aunika Hager scored in the paint just 11 seconds into the second quarter.

It was all Regina the rest of the way.

Regina closed the first half on a 30-0 run that was spurred by 12 points from Miller.

The senior guard had two 3-pointers in the 30-0 burst that snapped the final 7:04 of the second quarter and gave the Regals a 48-17 halftime advantage.

“We knew after that first quarter we had to play way better defense,” Miller said. “The first quarter we were letting people drive by us and not playing the defense we know we can. We just had to sit down and guard and the second quarter focused in on that.”

Regina held Bellevue scoreless for the final 7:49 of the second quarter as the Comets missed their final 12 field goal attempts of the half.

Meanwhile, Regina went 12-of-18 from the floor in the quarter.

“Our defense the first quarter was just not how we normally play,” Martin said. “We just had to focus on the defense end more and we made that more of a priority and we limited their scoring which helped us on offense.”

Miller grabbed 11 rebounds and finished with a double-double while Martin had five rebounds for Regina.

Ella Keune added eight points for the Regals.

“It’s one game down in the postseason and a lot of teams are done right now so we are just happy we are playing,” Regina coach Mary Rogers said. “We are excited.”

Regina will host Cascade on Friday in a rematch of last year’s regional final won by the Cougars.

The Regals won the lone regular season meeting between the two teams 58-45 on January 18 in Iowa City.

“When we saw the bracket we were pretty excited about that game,” Miller said. “It’s a good challenge and opportunity to play a team that beat us last year to go to state. We’ve played them many times and it’s gone back and forth so we are excited.”

Bellevue                     15   2   12  17  –  46

West Branch            18  30  17  10  –  75

Bellevue (46) – Karley McCombie 4-10 0-0 9, Aunika Hager 7-10 1-2 15, Kenzington Scheckel 3-11 0-0 8, Kylie Ernst 1-2 0-0 2, MaKinley Scheckel 1-5 0-2 2, Catherine Dunne 2-6 0-0 5, Payton Kettmann 2-7 1-2 5, Totals 20-51 2-6 46.

Regina (75) – Morgan Miller 8-12 2-2 22, Nora Wade 0-1 0-0 0, Ella Keune 3-5 1-2 8, Caitlin Martin 10-14 2-3 22, Ella McLaughlin 2-12 0-0 4, Maggie Sueppel 0-1 0-0 0, Addie McLaughlin 5-10 0-0 10, Adalee Klein 4-5 1-2 9, Totals 32-60 6-9 75.

3-point field goals – Bellevue 4-14 (McCombie 1-3, Hager 0-2, K. Scheckel 2-5, M. Scheckel 0-1, Dunne 1-3), Regina 5-19 (Miller 4-8, Keune 1-2, E. McLaughlin 0-7, A. McLaughlin 0-2). Rebounds – Bellevue 27 (Kettmann 6), Regina 36 (Miller 11). Total fouls – Bellevue 5, Regina 5. Turnovers – Bellevue 14, Regina 9. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

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