Royals girls’ hoops blast past Cardinals, stay undefeated

On Tues., Feb. 7, another Royals girls basketball opponent bit the dust.

The Royals crushed the Annandale Cardinals by more than 40 points, with a final score of 79-35. The victory continues the Royals’ undefeated season and puts their record at 22-0. The Royals have always been a Minnesota basketball powerhouse, obviously, this season has been no exception.

“I feel like we played really good, we worked really hard, we played well on defense and we had good tempo,” said Dlayla Chakolis, sophomore.

Chakolis along with Paige Bueckers, freshman, were the leading scorers Tuesday night for the Royals. Bueckers had 19 points, and Chakolis had 18.

Chakolis and Bueckers are not new to the Royals leaderboard. Bueckers being the overall leading scorer for the Royals with an average of 20.8 points per game, and Chakolis being the third overall leading scorer with an average of 13.1 points per game.

The leading scorer for the Cardinals was Kamryn D’Heilly with 13 points.

Although the Royals enjoyed the victory, they now look ahead to their conference matchup against the Edina Hornets.

The Hornets are currently 15-6 and ranked fourth in the Lake Conference (the Royals are ranked first).

Although the Royals previously beat the Hornets 53-34 on Dec. 16, the Hornets are not a team the Royals can take lightly. The 6 foot-3 inch forward Anna Jank will be a tough matchup for standout Royal forward Angie Hammond, junior, and guard Olivia Coughlin will be a priority for Bueckers and Chakolis on the defensive side. Both Jank and Coughlin average more than ten points per game for the Hornets.

“I feel pretty confident because we beat them last time but I think that we have to work extremely hard because they are extremely big and we have to box out and do the little things,” Chakolis said.

The Royals will take on Edina this Fri., Feb. 10, at 7:00 p.m. at Edina HS.