ROYAL CITY — The Royal Knights (11-3) were defeated 60-42 by the Zillah Leopards in Royal City on Friday. Despite the loss, head coach Farrah Wardenaar said they know they can compete with them.   

“They're a good team; the thing we need to focus on is that we can play with them. We need to change a few things, do a few things better, keep people out of foul trouble and we can hang with that team,” Wardenaar said.   

The Knights kept it close in the first quarter as Zillah took a 19-12 lead. In the second, the game slowed down for both teams, but the Leopards built their lead to 28-21 by halftime. In the second half, Royal struggled to keep the game close as Zillah rode their momentum. Despite an early rally by the Knights in the fourth quarter, the Leopards sealed the win.   

“They start hitting their shots and their momentum gets going, and we struggled at the free throw line, and so we just could never get a good run,” Wardenaar said.   

The Knights were competitive from the start of the first quarter, but Zillah took a 14-12 lead. Toward the end of the first, Royal made a few passing errors that helped the Leopards extend their lead to 19-12 heading into the second.   

The up-tempo pace of the game was halted at the start of the second quarter after technical issues with the scoreboard. After it was reset, the game resumed as both teams put up nine points. Briana Cedillo hit a crucial three-pointer to keep Royal in the game.   

“Cedillo for three-o,” the game announcer said.   

With the score 28-21 at halftime, the game was still within reach for the Knights. However, the Leopards found consistency sooner than the Knights in the third quarter, outscoring them 14-6, extending their lead to 42-27.   

At the start of the fourth quarter, the Knights started to get stops on defense and find consistency on offense. After a few Royal buckets and three by Graycie Kast, the deficit was cut to 35-44. Wardenaar said they made a switch to their approach before the final quarter started.   

“We went to a full-court man defense, and the girls were frustrated, so I'm like, ‘You got eight minutes. You got nothing to lose, let's go,’ and they worked really hard. They were really tired,” she said.   

Despite the effective scoring run, the Leopards capitalized on turnovers to re-extend their lead. In addition to forcing turnovers, Zillah also sank a couple of shots from the three-point line, sealing their win at 60-42.  

Wardenaar said she liked what she saw from her players at the start of the fourth quarter. The way they left it all on the court, she hopes to carry this mindset forward.

“We've got some really good defenders. I think our defense looks good, so that's not our problem. We've got to put together some offense, get some people shooting from the outside, hitting some big shots, and then we'll be able to hang,” Wardenaar said.   

The Knights hit the road Friday to play Connell at 5:45 p.m.  

BOX SCORE:  

ZLLA: 19-9-14-18: 60  

ROYL: 12-9-6-15: 42 

    The Knights’ Graycie Kast (22) battles for possession of the ball against Zillah Friday. Kast also had a steal in the third quarter which she took to the other end for a layup.
  

    The Knights’ Taylor Webb (33) looks for an open teammate on offense against Zillah.
  

    Maggie Frank (5) guards a Zillah player as they look to pass the ball back into play.