Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

WEST BRANCH – Regina took one on the chin on Saturday in the form of a 58-50 non-conference loss to Solon.

For freshman Jada Wiltz the first loss of the season on Saturday came complete with a shot to the nose that sideline the sharpshooter for most of the second quarter who finished with a season-low three points.

Regina and Wiltz both bounced back quickly on Tuesday.

Wiltz scored a game-high 23 points to lead three players in double figures as Class 2A No. 12 Regina returned to the win column with a 67-32 win at West Branch in a River Valley Conference South Division tilt.

“After that loss we all needed to push through together,” Wiltz said. “When we work together as a team, we are going to have a good chance to win.”

Addie McLaughlin and Adalee Klein each had double-doubles as Regina improved to 7-1 on the season and 2-0 in RVC South Division play.

McLaughlin scored 19 points and dished out 12 assists and Klein had 14 points and 10 boards as Regina shot 46 percent from the floor.

“They are definitely awesome, I love playing with both of them,” McLaughlin said of Wiltz and Klein. “Jada definitely doesn’t play like an underclassmen and Adalee is a great player too.”

With West Branch focused on limiting McLaughlin, Klein and Wiltz took advantage of their opportunites.

Wiltz had seven of her game-high 23 points in the first quarter as Regina took a 13-3 lead.

The Regals led 27-14 at the half but put the game out of reach early in the third quarter.

Regina opened the second half on a 15-2 run that featured seven points from McLaughlin and six from Klein and pushed the lead to 42-16.

“We switched to a zone for the whole half which we don’t do very much in my career, we are a man-to-man team but if that becomes what we are good at maybe that’s the shift we need,” Regina coach Mary Rogers said. “It brought the energy, it brought transition looks and we like to play fast. That was the biggest shift.”

McLaughlin had 11 of her 19 points in the second half and Wiltz had 14 after halftime as Regina outscored West Branch 40-18 in the final 16 minutes.

“We definitely moved the ball better as the game went on,” McLaughlin said. “We hit our shots in the second half after they weren’t falling as much in the first half.”

Regina limited West Branch to 23 percent shooting from the floor and forced the Bears into 27 turnovers.

The Regals converted those turnovers into transition points after halftime, shooting 61 percent from the field in the second half.

“I think communication wise we were way better, just talking on the floor,” Wiltz said. “As a team we all worked together better in the second half.”

Junior Grace Hamann led West Branch with eight points while Ava Burnett had six points and seven rebounds.

West Branch dropped to 3-3 with the loss and 0-2 in RVC South Division games.

Regina                        13  14  17  23  –  67

West Branch              3   11  10   8   –  32

Regina (67) – Jada Wiltz 9-21 3-4 23, Mel Kirk 1-3 0-2 3, Maddie Squiers 0-2 0-0 0, Maggie Sueppel 3-6 2-2 8, Addie McLaughlin 9-16 0-0 19, Vivian Koch 0-1 0-0 0, Adalee Klein 5-8 4-6 14, Jordee Klein 0-2 0-0 0, Totals 27-59 9-14 67.

West Branch (32) – Clancy Trepanier 2-6 0-0 4, Lexi Skay 1-7 0-0 3, Maddie Neuberger 0-1 0-0 0, Kennedy Simpson 2-6 0-0 5, Ava Burnett 0-6 6-6 6, Grace Hamann 3-9 2-4 8, Emalyn Poe 0-3 3-6 3, Alissa Van Hall 1-2 0-0 3, Totals 9-40 11-16 32.

3-point field goal – ICR 4-20 (Wiltz 2-10, Kirk 1-3, Squiers 0-2, Sueppel 0-1, McLaughlin 1-3, Klein 0-1), WB 3-12 (Trepanier 0-1, Skay 1-3, Simpson 1-2, Burnett 0-3, Poe 0-1, Van Hall 1-2). Rebounds – ICR 37 (A. Klein 9), WB 33 (Burnett 7). Turnovers – ICR 11, WB 27. Total fouls – ICR 14, WB 14. Fouled out – WB (Skay). Technical fouls – None.

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