By Richard Anderson

605 Sports

Salter scored 12 of her game-high 17 points in the first half and said their energy got them through a couple of lulls in the first half.

“Our energy was there, we wanted it,” said Salter. “Our defense was great. We had lots of rebounds, lots of assists. Sharing the ball was the key thing. We all trust each other. We can make the extra pass to get a great shot or good shot.”

Along with her 17 points on 8-of-10 shooting, Salter lit up the stat sheet, adding nine rebounds, four assists, five steals and two blocks. She also sported a little welt on her nose from a blocked shot on a Pierre opponent that came back and got her in the face.

Zerr said that Salter is a “super humble kid” and is not somebody that’s looking for recognition.

“She just plays incredibly hard,” he said. “She had played a great role for us last year, coming off the bench and she worked incredibly hard this off-season to add to her game as a ball handler. She’s an incredible athlete. When you have kids like that, you just want to turn them loose, you don’t want to put a lot of reins on them, you just want to let them run.”

Brandon Valley took the momentum early into the second with two more layups by Salter and Alyvia Padgett before Amanda Lease nailed two straight 3-pointers for a big 28-10 lead.

Lennix DuPris ended the 16-0 run for the Lady Govs with a running floater at the 5:21 mark. Three-pointers by Molly Olson and DuPris and two baskets by Addison Soma brought Pierre back within nine at 31-22 with a little more than a minute to play.

The Lynx, however, closed strong with six straight points and used another 3 by Lease for a 37-22 halftime lead.

Brandon Valley came out of the locker room with added momentum with an 11-2 run and led 48-25 on a Salter basket. Three straight baskets by Padgett gave the Lynx a 28-point lead before taking a 61-33 advantage into the fourth quarter. Padgett scored 10 points in the third for the Lynx.

Padgett also had a big game with 16 points, six assists and four steals, while Lease added 11 points and Ava Kellenberger had 10 points and eight rebounds.

 “We all have a connection that we know, like you are going to cut, you are going to screen. It’s just a weird connection that we all have between the team,” Salter said.

Zerr said every team wants to be trending forward by the state tournament and that is what the Lynx are doing, winners of nine straight games.

“They have bought into just continuing to get better, not worrying about outside noise, just staying locked in and keeping their focus,” Zerr said. “That’s what we have to continue to do here.”