RAPID CITY - Well, it didn't get any easier for the Pine Ridge Lady Thorpes or their coach the second time around.

No. 10-ranked Class A Pine Ridge, coached by Lyle "Dusty" LeBeaux, topped Red Cloud, led by his son, Jerome LeBeaux, 47-41 in the teams' second meeting of the season Saturday at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center. The Thorpes topped Red Cloud 63-43 for the Lakota Nation Invitational championship in December.

"It's bittersweet," Dusty LeBeaux said of the win. "You're happy for your girls, but you don't want to beat your son. Like I've said before, now I know what Bobby Bowden feels like. You want him (your son) to do well but he is going up against you, too. You can't just give it to him, you know?"

It looked like the two teams were headed for another large difference in terms of the final score, as Pine Ridge used its 2-3 zone defense to harass the Crusaders into a rough first half. Pine Ridge took a 29-12 lead into the locker room at halftime before running out of gas in the second half.

"We got up on them by 15 or 16," LeBeaux said. "And then we got a little tired, and so did they. I saw that they (Red Cloud) were a little tired, and I told the girls that they were going to have to do it. Jerome has that team playing some good basketball. I'm just glad this is over and we don't have to do this anymore this year, although there is one more possibility. We could meet at the state tournament."

If the Thorpes are going to get to the state tournament, they will need to keep getting the types of performances that Lacey Weston gave them. Weston, a 5-foot-11 junior, scored 15 points, a team-high, and grabbed 16 rebounds, a game-high, to lead the Thorpes.

The Crusaders came back strong in the third quarter on some big 3-pointers by Shaina Clifford to get back in the game. A triple by Lisa Bear Robe cut the Pine Rdige lead to 35-33, but that was as close as they would get.

"I think we were just determined to win it," LeBeaux said. "I called my last timeout there and just told them, 'Look, I have no more timeouts, you have to go out there and win it,' and they did."

Pine Ridge, 15-3 overall, hosts Marty on Friday night. Red Cloud, 13-5, travels to St. Francis on Friday.