Roy • It’s been a tiring rebuilding process for the Roy high girls’ basketball program, but this season’s senior-heavy roster proved that the wait has been worth it.
The Royals improved to 11-3 with a gritty 55-47 win over visting Woods Cross on Friday.
“This group has something special,” Roy coach Carolyn DeHoff said. “We have nine seniors on this roster. They’re starting to show what we’ve been practicing for over three years.”
The veteran senior class scored every point for the Royals, including 6-foot-5 center Josie Williams, who finished with 19 points and nine rebounds. It was a relatively tame outing for a player who averages a 25 points and 11 rebounds.
“I kind of knew that tonight might be a tough game because Woods Cross is so physical,” Williams said. “Today had a lot to do with my timing and getting to spots on time to get my post-ups, but the biggest thing today was everyone else who stepped on the floor and played their role. They stepped up and made those shots when I was getting hammered.”
After she scored 13 points in the first half, Woods Cross made a concerted effort to prevent Williams from receiving the ball in the paint. With their centerpiece tied down early, fellow senior Brittany Hatch decided to take control of the offense as the 6-1 forward scored eight of her 17 points in the third quarter.
“We just realized as a group that we can’t just shut down when we can’t get it into Josie,” Hatch said. “We need to react and move off of her to find open shots.”
Roy quickly found space to shoot in the third quarter. The Royals started the third quarter on an 8-0 run to take 29-21 lead before Woods Cross’ Olivia Barton stopped the bleeding with a basket at the 5:13 mark. What would follow was a scoring duel between Hatch and Barton as each player scored eight in the quarter.
“You definitely think there’s a challenge,” Hatch said about the back-and-forth third quarter. “It’s nice to have a little competition like that, and it just pushes you to go harder.”
Despite Barton’s offensive output in the third, the play of Hatch and senior guard Kay Poppell was enough to keep the Royals in front. They took a 36-32 lead into the fourth quarter.
After a quiet quarter of screening and facilitating, Williams decided to reassert herself in the fourth on the defensive end. She swatted three of her five blocks on the night in the final quarter.
“I love to block people,” Williams said. “That’s something I’ve been working on for a while. I know I’m tall enough to block those shots, so I just need to stay down in my spots and not jump into the shooters. I did that today.”
The heightened defensive effort in the fourth quarter gave the Royals their first double-digit lead of the game at 51-40 with 2:10 left as they squeezed out the remainder of the game to improve to 2-0 in Region 5.
ROY 55, WOODS CROSS 47 <br>• Roy wins its fifth straight game while ending Woods Cross’ five-game winning streak. <br>• Senior Josie Williams finishes with a game-high 19 points, nine rebounds and five blocks while fellow seniors Brittany Hatch (17) and Kay Poppell (12) also score in double figures. <br>• Olivia Barton leads Woods Cross with 19 points, and Sara Noel adds 15.