A three-pointer from Jennifer Dowd has pulled the Royals back within four.  Rogers is still having shooting problems - they’re just 4/20 from the field - but they’re making it a game by playing great defense.

The Royals fell behind early, but have scored five straight points to get back within striking distance.

Rogers missed its first five shots of the game, before Casey Mann finally hit a runner from the baseline to get the Royals on the board. Meanwhile, Totino-Grace made all of its first three shots, including three-pointers from Veronica Scott and Jessica Meyer.  Rogers has come out in a 2-3 zone, meaning that the Eagles have room to shoot over the top; since their opening flurry, though, they’ve missed three consecutive three-pointers.

Student sections note: Totino-Grace has the smallest student section of any team in the tournament.  Anytime the pep band has more members than the student section has, you know you’re in trouble.

Our last game of the day pits the Section 3 champion Eagles against the Section 5 champion Royals.  Rogers beat Marshall 45-44 in overtime yesterday to make the semifinals; the Royals are led by senior guard Casey Mann, who’s scored more than 2000 points in her Rogers career.  She’s averaging 16.2 points per game, along with nearly four steals a night.

The Eagles have two players that are averaging double figures in points per game.  Senior forward Veronica Scott scored 12.7 points per game this season, and junior center Lizzi Naumann averaged 10.7, along with 9.7 rebounds per night.

With the luxury of a ten-point lead, the Islanders were able to move the ball around the perimeter, waiting for a lane to open up - or not, as the case might be.  Regardless, they finished the game in fine style, controlling the ball enough to prevent a RedHawks comeback attempt.

Anna Kovalchuk led DeLaSalle with 15 points; Brittany Norby had 15 for Minnehaha Academy in the loss. 

The Redhawks went into a 1-3-1 zone, which clogged the lane but left some open spaces.  The Islanders have been able to find those spaces and get good shots; Tori Rule hit a couple of baseline jumpers for DeLaSalle, and Aaryn Booker had a couple of putback buckets.

Ani Johnson has hit a couple of NBA-length three-pointers for the Redhawks; they may need a few more of those to get back into this one.