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LNI girls: Red Cloud win sets up father-son game
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FarkRAPID CITY — The Red Cloud Lady Crusaders knocked off Cheyenne-Eagle Butte 56-48 in a girls’ Lakota Nation Invitational semifinal to set up an all-Pine Ridge Reservation championship game with Pine Ridge High School tonight.
The win also sets up the first meeting between Thorpe head coach Lyle “Dusty” LeBeaux and his son, Red Cloud’s first-year coach, Jerome LeBeaux.
“It’s only a win-win for all of our people back home and all of our young people,” Jerome LeBeaux said of facing Pine Ridge for the championship. “A lot of people look up to my Dad and it’s just a huge honor to get to play against my Dad. I wouldn’t say I was looking ahead, but I was definitely watching and hoping.”
The Crusaders jumped out to an early lead of 15-9 behind some solid trapping defense. Cheyenne-Eagle Butte returns quite a few players from a team, like Red Cloud, that appeared in the Class A state tournament last season. Their strength on the wings and the post kept them within striking distance of Red Cloud for much of the night, but their lack of a true point guard kept them from ever getting over the hump. The Lady Braves turned the ball over 15 times in the game.
“That was something that we wanted to try to take advantage of,” Jerome LeBeaux said. “We went and watched them yesterday, and Little Wound trapped a few times and (Cheyenne-Eagle Butte) wasn’t very good at dealing with it, at least at this point in the season. I’m sure they’ll get better at it as the year goes on, but it was something that we definitely wanted to take advantage of.”
Cheyenne-Eagle Butte managed to figure out the Red Cloud pressure in the second quarter enough to cut the lead to two points, each time on a Nadia Watt drive, but the Crusaders never let the Braves take the lead. Red Cloud was outscored 13-9 in the second period, but their coach wasn’t terribly worried.
“I just told them to stay focused,” LeBeaux said. “I just wanted them to stay focused. We had a goal, and I wanted them to stay focused on that. We weren’t playing Pine Ridge or anyone else. We were playing Eagle Butte and we wanted to stay focused on playing Eagle Butte.”
The Crusaders came out in the second half with a renewed determination on the defensive end, and the Braves' lack of a take-charge ballhandler surfaced, as Cheyenne-Eagle Butte scored just two points in the third quarter to fall behind 34-21.
The Braves cut the lead down to five at 51-46 on a Marissa Landreaux 3-pointer with 39.5 seconds left, but it was a case of too little, too late.
Marque Lunderman led Red Cloud with 16 points and Shaina Clifford chipped in 14. Lisa Bear Robe added nine points and nine rebounds for the Crusaders.
Jessica Keckler shook off a tough start shooting the ball to record a game-high 22 points. Watt added 11 points and seven rebounds.
The Braves will take on St. Francis in the third-place game at 2 p.m. at South Dakota School of Mines today.
Cheyenne-Eagle Butte's Jessica Keckler is pressured heavily by Red Cloud's Lisa Bear Robe as Keckler powers past her to the hoop for two points Friday afternoon at the Lakota Nation Invitational in Rapid City. (Seth A. McConnell/Journal staff)
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