The Anoka-Ramsey Community College Women's Basketball team swept their two home games against Northern Division opponents routing Rainy River 98-52 on Friday evening before coming back to defeat Hibbing 72-59 on Saturday afternoon.
Vs. Rainy River (W 98-52)
The Golden Rams jumped out early on the Voyageurs and never looked back, taking a 22-6 lead after the first quarter.
Both the offense and defense continued to shine in the second quarter with Anoka-Ramsey shooting 50 percent from the field and holding Rainy River to just 14.3 percent in taking a 53-17 lead at halftime.
The lead extended to as many as 52 points with 5:53 left in the game.
Anoka-Ramsey shot 48.1 percent overall and made 11 of 30 three-point field goals.
The Golden Rams forced 26 turnovres and had 25 assists.
Daron Mainville finished with a double-double of 25 points and 13 rebounds, shooting 10 of 14 from the field, while also dishing out six assists.
Makayla Paggen scored a career-high 23 points on 7 of 9 shooting from the three-point line.
Lexus Hughes scored 15 points and pulled in seven rebounds.
Za'Keea Sa'eed-El had six assists and four steals.
Vs. Hibbing (W 72-59)
On Saturday afternoon the Golden Rams offense fortunes were markedly different compared to Friday night's win. At least for one half.
Anoka-Ramsey managed just seven points in the first quarter and made just one field goal.
The stout defense kept them in the game as the Cardinals managed just 23.8 percent shooting and lead 13-7 after the first quarter.
The second quarter didn't get much better offensively for Anoka-Ramsey as they made 5 of 23 field goals and went into halftime trailing 29-18 after allowing four points in the final four seconds.
Hibbing started the third quarter strong going on a 6-2 run to open a 15 point lead.
But Anoka-Ramsey wasn't done yet.
A three-pointer by Chaniya Rogers kick-started a 13-4 run to pull within six with 2:44 left in the period.
After a Hibbing layup, Anoka-Ramsey scored the next seven points to pull within 41-40.
Following another Hibbing field goal, the Golden Rams put together another 7-0 run highlighted by two layups and a free throw from Eryn Eilertson and the Golden Rams went into the fourth quarter with a 47-45 lead.
Hibbing tied the score at 52 apiece with 6:36 to play but it was all Anoka-Ramsey from there. A Mainville layup and a Rogers three-pointer gave the Golden Rams a five point lead.
Hibbing pulled with two, but another 7-0 run gave the Golden Rams a 64-55 lead and they would cruise in for the win.
Anoka-Ramesy held Hibbing to just four points in the final six minutes.
The Golden Rams shot 57.9 percent in the third quarter, and 62.5 percent in the fourth quarter to pull out the win.
Hibbing committed 25 turnovers, 19 coming from Golden Rams steals.
Rogers and Sa'eed-El each finished with 17 points. Hughes scored 13 points and pulled in eight rebounds, and Mainville chipped in ten points to go with nine rebounds.
Sa'eed-El dished out nine assists.
The Golden Rams improve to 6-3 on the season having won their last four games.
Anoka-Ramsey will travel to Itasca Community College on Friday, December 11 for a 6:00pm tip, then head to #5 Northland Community and Technical College on Saturday at 1:00pm for a matchup of teams ranked in the top ten nationally.