The Golden Valley girls’ basketball team fell short at home Wednesday when the Quartz Hill Royals defeated the Lady Grizzlies, 51-41.
Despite the loss, Golden Valley (10-11, 1-6) head coach Ronald Allen remains optimistic in his young team to overcome their woes for a strong end to the season.
“Speed kills,” he said in his initial reaction to the Grizzlies loss. “Young lady No. 4 on Quartz Hill [Ashantee Palmer] is a hell of an athlete. She’s fast, quick, smart, and it’s a lot to deal with defensively. We tried our best.”
Allen added after the game that he was proud of his team’s effort to come back and challenge the Royals after the Grizzlies fell behind in the first quarter, 16-8.
But in the second quarter, the Grizzlies came back to cut the deficit to 18-17 following a 9-2 scoring run.
“We started moving the ball. Our guards started doing a really good job of moving the ball,” Allen said. “We were very intentional in the middle of the game with moving the ball. And then I think, you know, once Brighton Blythe got into foul trouble, I think that kind of threw everything off.”
Freshman guard Blythe was a bright spot for Golden Valley throughout the game as she scored 16 points on 6-for-19 shooting.
When Blythe got into some early foul trouble in the first half, Allen took her out, which disrupted the team’s momentum.
A player Allen relied on to help lead the team while Blythe was out, junior center Krysta Ezenwa, scored eight points throughout the game on 4-for-8 shooting.
Ezenwa, who’s been away from the team, according to Allen, was a big factor for the Grizzlies as she tallied 11 rebounds, with six of them being offensive boards.
“She’s a hell of a player as well,” Allen said. “She has to use the games to get her legs back under her. And defensively and on the boards, that’s where she really shines. And she’s just still trying to get a feel for just playing basketball again and bouncing off those baselines.”
In the second half, the Royals extended their lead over the Grizzlies and ended the third frame with a 37-29 lead, and Golden Valley was unable to come back despite a rally in the fourth quarter.
The Royals ended the game with the 10-point win and dropped the Grizzlies to below .500 as they recorded their 11th loss.
Although Allen doesn’t want to lose, he’s taking a lot of positives from the defeat and looking forward to taking what works into the final stretch of the regular season.
“We start three freshmen, one sophomore and one junior. We have a very young group,” he said. “Whether we win or lose, I always tell the players don’t play the score, play the game … and these are going to be games that later on we’re going to win. Right now, with not winning them they are going to be a learning tool.”
The Grizzlies play again on the road Friday against the Castaic Coyotes with tip-off scheduled for 5 p.m.
