Girls hoops preview: State semifinals

Tonight, the Royals girls basketball team will look to take the final step to get back to the stage they have been working towards the whole season.

The Royals will play the Eastview Lightning for the state semi-final, at 6 p.m. at Williams Arena.

Both the Royals and the Lightning are fresh off of their quarter-final wins on Tuesday.

The Royals defeated the previous state champion, the Minnetonka Skippers, 76-57. The Lightning gained a slightly closer victory against the Park Center Pirates, 75-65.

The Royals previously defeated the Lightning in the regular season by a close margin of only five points, the final score of the game being 65-60. The game was the Royals’ closest win of the regular season.

The Royals will be expecting another big game from their leading scorer, Paige Bueckers, freshman. Bueckers had a season high 31 points in the Tuesday victory over the Skippers, and averages 21.2 points per game.

Reana Suggs, junior, and Dlayla Chakolis, sophomore, will also be expected to have big impacts in the upcoming game against the Lightning.

As the Royals’ second leading scorer, Suggs averages 17.2 ppg. Chakolis not only contributes offensively to the Royals’ game with an average of 13.1 ppg, but is also a major defensive and rebounding key for the team, averaging 7.1 rebounds per game.

“I feel confident in our team. We have put in the time and if we play the way we are capable of playing we should be able to take care of business,” said Luci Swift, senior.