ROYAL CITY - Once again, the missing ingredient for the Royal High girls basketball team was effective shooting in games against Granger and Zillah last week.

The Knights fell 53-11 to Granger Thursday, and stumbled 69-16 against Zillah Friday.

"Granger is a very good team and should trophy at state," coach Phil Daubel said. "It's good for us to play against competition of that level. Zillah is one of the best teams in the west side of our league and will go deep into state."

Royal competed the length of the floor all night, particularly on defense. The Knights had several steals against Granger for breakaways, but they didn't convert them into points.

"I was very pleased with our effort," Daubel said. "The girls worked  really hard for 32 minutes."

The Knights struggled with their shooting. They took too few shots and made too few, going 4-for-29 from the floor and 3-for-11 from the free throw line against Granger. The misses included open layups.

"We are getting good looks, but the shots are just not falling right now," Daubel said. "Hopefully we are getting our legs under us and this will change."

Point guard Stefhany Guadarrama scored five points against Granger, and Brittany Jo Hebdon had four. Lindsey Christensen and Flor Araujo scored one point each, and Christensen grabbed eight rebounds.

Zillah 69

Royal 16

Guadarrama led the scoring against Zillah with eight points. Araujo and Marisa Squeochs had three points. Christensen scored two points and corraled seven rebounds.

The season will continue tonight with a home game against Naches. Royal will travel to Warden on Friday and Kiona-Benton on Saturday.

"I really feel like we're improving every game," Daubel said. "My captains, Lindsey and Stef, are really lifting the girls up with their effort and hustle. We need too just keep working hard."

Royal travels to Warden Friday to take on the Cougars.