Royal girls end two-game skid with win over Goldendale
Rodney Harwood/Columbia Basin Herald Royal's Chenoa Louie (10) makes the pass to the wing during the first quarter of the Knights' game with Goldendale.
ROYAL — The Royal girls ended a two-game skid on Saturday to go into the holiday break with a 4-4 record and a chance to make some headway in the SCAC East when they come out the other side of the holiday.
Royal outscored Goldale 28-9 with a offensive push that started in the third quarter of Saturday’s SCAC crossover game. They led 26-9 and by the time it was over they Knights (4-4, 0-2 SCAC East) were up 54-18 with 3:16 remaining. That blast of energy showed a little something to coach Bud Wilhelm.
“I thought we looked pretty lethargic after a rough couple of games,” said Wilhelm, whose club lost 67-31 to Zillah on Friday and 68-48 to Warden on Tuesday. “But I thought we got it back in the second half. Going back-to-back, especially like play Zillah where the kids got beat up pretty good, I thought we came back and played pretty well.
“It was fun. I was really proud of our second string girls as they came in and controlled the game. Sometimes they struggle, but they didn’t tonight and it was fun to see.”
Chenoa Louie showed some of those leaping skills that made her one of the top goalkeepers during the soccer season. The 5-foot-11 sophomore finished with 18 points and nine rebounds to lead the way. Raylie Wardenaar had 12 and Josie Phillips added 11.
“We definitely have some things to iron out. We’ve had some pretty good guard play the first half, but we definitely need to fix some of our turnover stuff,” Wilhelm said. “Our turnovers are down from last year, but we need to do better if we’re going to compete.”
The Knights jumped out to a 10-4 lead and were never really challenged in front of a crowd that was festive with the upcoming holidays on the way. They made it a 17-7 game, then 26-9 before going on the run that pretty much put things away.
Royal is back on the floor Dec. 28 at the Cascade Tournament.
Box score
G 4 10 4 6 - 24
R 14 18 14 10 - 56
Goldendale: Kelli Bighorn 2, Crysta Warren 3, Tiana Watson 3, Payton Sheridan 2, Leslie Smith 6, Ashley Bartkowski 1, Delaney Peters 7. Totals: 3 16-54 24
Royal: Janea Mercado 6, Emma Wilhelm 6, Jose Phillips 11, Chenoa Louie 18, Makayla Ortega 3, Raylie Wardenaar 12. Totals: 14 25-67 56