Wahluke girls working hard to turn things around

MATTAWA — It’d been a week since the Waluke girls breakout win over Kiona-Benton, but they Warriors just couldn’t get into any kind of offensive rhythm in their 51-20 loss to the hard-charging Yakama Tribal School Eagles to go into the holiday break with a 1-8 record.

They play hard and they stay together, but the Warriors just couldn’t run the floor with the Eagles or deal with their pressure defense all night long.

Ana Andrade led Wahluke with six points and Melissa Fierras added five for the Warriors, who scored just eight points in the first half.

Yakama Tribal sophomore Jada Liulamaga led the Eagles with 18 points and G’Mewiin Mills added 14 and was a big force with the 30-point push in the second half.

The young Warrior squad is back on the floor Dec. 28 at the Granger Christmas Tournament.

ROYAL GIRLS

Royal 56, Goldendale 24

ROYAL CITY — 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.