Girls basketball: WARDEN 59, ROYAL 31

| January 25, 2011 5:00 AM

ROYAL CITY - A strong finish despite a bad ending was enough to carry Warden's Lady Cougars to a win the next evening.

Following a tough 46-41 home league loss to Kittitas on Friday night in which Warden rallied from a double-figure deficit, the Lady Cougars kept their momentum by scoring 41 first half points the next night to pull away for a 59-31 win over Royal.

"We came out making our shots and ran our press to jump all over them," Warden head coach Todd Kisler said. "We were able to let everyone get in and work on our half court defense. It was a good win for us."

Iris Rodriguez led Warden with 16 points, eight rebounds, and three steals, while Sidney Loera finished with 10 points.

The Lady Cougars also received nine points and six assists from Lindsay Cole and nine points from Chelsea Brown.

Steph Guadarrama led Royal with 10 points and five rebounds.

On Friday, Warden fell despite scoring 21 points in the fourth quarter against Kittitas.

Warden was led by Hannah Bisnett's nine points, Tawnie Gonazales' six points, Brown's six points, Cole's six points, and Rodriguez's five points and 16 rebounds.