By Rich Winter

RAPID CITY — Trailing by one at intermission, the Lakota Tech girls went on a second-half tear. 

Led by a suffocating defense and 22 points from 6-foot-1 senior post Melina Shangreaux, Lakota Tech advanced to Friday’s semifinal round with a 48-43 win over Wall at the Lakota Nation Invitational. 

“We’ve had two eight o’clock games already, back to back and that is really mental,” Shyleigh Richard, Lakota Tech senior guard said. “After halftime we just had to pick up our energy and get it together as a team.” 

A back-and-forth first-half saw Wall take a 17-14 lead before the Tatanka came back. Shangreaux’s inside bucket, her 10th point of the first half, pushed Lakota Tech to an 18-17 lead. Taylor Byerley’s basket upped that lead to 20-17 with 1:42 remaining in the half. 

Wall’s Rhea Tucker hit a pair of free throws and an inside bucket with teammate Paige Kjerstad hitting a late basket to give the Eagles a 24-23 lead at intermission. 

Lakota Tech scored the first six points of the second-half including back-to-back hoops from Shangreaux to extend the lead to 29-24. 

“She’s so big and so dominant and it is so easy to get it to her because she is so strong out there,” Richard said. 

Kjerstad and Tucker hit a pair of baskets to cut into the lead but Lakota Tech used a pair of baskets from Richard, an inside bucket from Tawny Rodriguez to open up a lead. By the time a 17-8 run ended Lakota Tech had extended the lead to 46-36. 

Jodene Hunter puts up a shot during Thursday's Lakota Nation Invitational game against Wall - Rodney Haas - 605 Sports

Shangreaux finished the morning game shooting 11-18 frome the field while grabbing nine rebounds. Rodiguez had five points and 11 rebounds while Shayla Bravo also chipped in five points. 

Kjerstad led Wall with 20 points and 14 rebounds with Tucker contributing nine points and nine rebounds. 

Lakota Tech doesn’t play again until Friday at 2:00 p.m. and Richard said the girls will try to get right before Friday’s semifinals. 

“We are going to get something to eat, do a lot of resting and take care of our bodies as best we can,” Richard said.