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After winning seven of their first nine games to start the year, the Lynnwood Royals looked like a team that could challenge for the Wesco League 2A/3A girls basketball title and possibly go far into the postseason play.
But disaster struck on Dec. 28 when co-captain and leading scorer Kayla Lorenz suffered a broken left thumb early in the Royals’ non-league matchup against Decatur.
The injury has sidelined Lorenz for the remainder of the regular season. It’s a blow that at first rocked Lynnwood, evidenced by a home loss to Decatur that night and then another defeat on Royals’ court the following evening to Kamiak.
Fast forward to Wednesday and the Royals, without Lorenz for the fifth straight game, seem to have settled back into their winning ways with a solid 56-42 home victory over the Edmonds-Woodway Warriors.
The Wesco League victory is the third win in a row for Lynnwood. Players and coaches hope it’s a sign that the team can succeed while Lorenz is on the mend.
“When Kayla went down, of course, everyone was hurt,” said Royals co-captain Aniya Hooker. “We were shocked. She’s a big part of our team and to have her down really hurts us. But we’re trying to adjust and try to make it up for it.”
Hooker scored 24 points and pulled down nine rebounds to lead Lynnwood in their victory over the Warriors. The senior admitted that while Lorenz is not available to play she is consciously looking to make up for some of the lost scoring.
“I try to do my part, try to fill in her gap, try to shoot more 3s,” Hooker said. ” But I also try to get it out to the people coming off the bench or the people who are substituting in for her because I know they can shoot also. I try to get my whole team involved.”
The stats sheet shows that other Royals are getting their shots at scoring. On Wednesday, it was Teyah Clark who contributed 12 points. Two nights prior, in a 64-52 victory at Ballard, it was Jocelyn Tamayo that led the squad with a game-high 18 points.
The team mantra now is to feed the hot hand, no matter who on the squad has it on any particular night, Hooker said.
“It’s just whoever shoots the best. You try to get them the ball, try to get them going,” she said. “We have everyone that can shoot, so it’s really just whoever is on that day we get them the ball.”
“We have important drills that help us get (the ball) to the shooter,” Hooker said of the team’s practices. “We’re working on that more, which has helped us a lot.”
On Wednesday, it was senior Dina Yonas lighting it up early with eight of her nine total points in the first quarter, started by a pair of long-range buckets from beyond the 3-point arc.
Yonas’ first-quarter effort helped the Royals jump out to a 16-7 advantage. A 10-1 run to close out the second quarter gave Lynnwood a 29-13 halftime lead.
E-W (2-5 in 2A/3A Wesco League play, 5-8 overall) never led as the Royals cruised to the victory. The Warriors were led in scoring by the 21 points of senior Natalie Durbin but no other E-W players scored more than five points.
With six more games in their regular season, the Royals (6-1 in 2A/3A Wesco play, 10-4 overall) are hoping to hang on to one of the top seeds for the postseason District 1 3A tournament when Lorenz is hoping to get back out onto the court. Then after that, a second straight trip to the 3A state tournamenet is on the team’s wish list.
Hooker said she believes, despite the challenges the team has faced this season, pursuing postseason tournament trophies is still a possibility for the Royals.
“I think we’re going to make a run,” Hooker said.
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Lynnwood 56, Edmonds-Woodway 42
Edmonds-Woodway 7 6 15 14 – 42
Lynnwood 16 13 11 16 – 56
Edmonds-Woodway individual scoring: Natalie Durbin 21, Sydney Stumpf 5, Naomi Limb 5, Finley Wichers 4, Indira Carey-Boxley 3, Madeline Skaar 2, Jasmin Gill 2, Amelia Miller, Abigail Johnson
Lynnwood individual scoring: Aniya Hooker 24, Teyah Clark 12, Dina Yonas 9, Jocelyn Tamayo 6, Nyree Johnson 4, Ena Dodik 1, Madison Meyers
Records: Edmonds-Woodway 2-5 in 2A/3A Wesco League, 5-8 overall; Lynnwood 6-1 in 2A/3A Wesco League, 10-4 overall
Edmonds-Woodway next game: vs. Shorewood; Friday, Jan. 12; 7:15 p.m. at Edmonds-Woodway High School
Lynnwood next game: vs. Marysville-Getchell; Friday, Jan. 12; 7:15 p.m. at Marysville-Getchell High School
— By Doug Petrowski
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