AUGUSTA — All it took for the Lawrence girls basketball team to get rolling was the first four minutes of the first quarter.
After that, there was no stopping the Bulldogs.
No. 1 Lawrence cruised to a 77-36 victory over No. 8 Nokomis in a Class A North quarterfinal Friday night at the Augusta Civic Center.
Junior forward Ashley Shores led the Bulldogs with 16 points. Senior forward Lilly Gray scored 14 points, while junior guard Maddie Provost added 13.
“We’re very excited (to move on to the semifinals),” Shores said.
Junior forward Raegan King led Nokomis with 11 points. Freshman forward MacKenzie Liscomb added nine points. The Warriors finished 6-13.
Lawrence (19-0) will meet No. 4 Camden Hills in the semifinal round at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.
The Bulldogs had two 17-0 runs.
“When you come down (to Augusta), you never know what’s going to happen,” Lawrence coach Greg Chesley said. “The opponent can always get hot, if it’s No. 1 vs. No. 8 or No. 4 vs. No. 5. We were glad we were able to come out without a lot of nerves and play well.”
How Lawrence did it
• Defense. The Bulldogs forced 28 turnovers, 17 in the first half.
• Rebounding. The senior post duo of Lilly Gray and Nadia Morrison — both 6-footers — was simply too much for the Warriors. Gray had seven rebounds, while Morrison had five.
“We talked about rebounding (during a timeout), and Lilly Gray did a great job on the boards,” Chesley said. “Between (Gray and Morrison), they just kind of took over on the glass. That does everything for us. It gives us second shots on the offensive end.”
• Runs. They were fast and furious for Lawrence, including a 17-0 run from late in the first quarter through the middle of the second quarter, as well as another 17-0 run from late in the second through the middle of the third quarter.
• Depth. The Bulldogs had 10 different scorers, including four players who had 10 points or more.
“We’re happy we have so much depth,” Shores said. “We’ve got a lot of people that can score on our team.”
Keeping them quiet
• A heckler from the Nokomis student section yelled a remark at Shores in the second quarter, just before she was shooting a 3-pointer from the corner.
Shores nailed the shot, then glared at the heckler, who immediately quieted down.
“It felt pretty good,” Shores said with a laugh.
Statistical leaders
Lawrence: Ashley Shores (16 points), Lilly Gray (14 points, seven rebounds), Maddie Provost (13 points)
Nokomis: Raegan King (11 points), MacKenzie Liscomb (nine points)
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