[sixcol_five_last]

By Kolby Chang

Geckos’ Ana Aguon flies in to put two points on the board with this layup. (photo by Jesse Castro)

The Notre Dame Royal withstood several late game rallies to hold off the George Washington Geckos 54-45 in the IIAAG Girls’ Basketball League Friday night at the GW gym.

“I asked the girls to stay focused because [the Geckos] are running on an emotional high being it senior night here. What I wanted us to do was get a ten point lead so that we can be comfortable,” Royals’ coach Bob Pelkey said.

Destiny Castro led all scorers with 29 points and was proud of how her team kept their composure against a resilient Gecko squad.

“As a team we did good. We had a couple of turnovers but we fixed that with some shots and good assists,” Castro said.

The Royals improved their record to 5-5 with only have two games left on the schedule.

“We’ve got two very tough games coming up. Our last two games are against Southern High School and Academy and in our division they’re the leading teams and they’re the teams to beat,” Pelkey said.

The Geckos’ Antonette George opened the second half by burying a runner in the lane to cut the Royals’ lead to four points. Castro responded by slicing and dicing her way into the paint and drained several layups to make the score 31-25.

Royals’ Cabrini Cruz drives through two Geckos defenders to put the ball up for a shot. (photo by Jesse Castro)

The Geckos, however, kept pushing the ball at every opportunity and it paid off when Zea Nauta got a few steps ahead of her defender to lead the fastbreak that ignited a nine-point run.

Nauta then dropped a dime to George who converted the layup plus the foul. George made her free throw and the Geckos continued to play aggressive on offense.

Towards the end of the quarter Dyoni Quitugua stole the ball and fired an assist to George who dropped in another layup to cut it to 35-34.

In the fourth quarter, Ana Aguon went straight at Royals’ center Corina Dudkiewicz and dropped in rainbow over the much taller defender to make it 39-36. Geana Leon Guerrero then drove baseline, pump faked her defender and banked in a short jumper to get the Geckos within one point of the lead.

The Royals did not flinch and never let the home team get any closer then that as Dudkiewicz controlled the offensive glass and gave the Royals a nice cushion as she hit a couple put backs to extend the lead at 41-38.

Other Scores

Academy 56, Guam High 35
ND 54, GW 45
St. Paul 58, Harvest 37

PHOTO GALLERY BROUGHT TO YOU BY:

Royals’ Destiny Castro shoots a short jumper over Geckos’ Dyonii Quitugua to put two on the board. (photo by Jesse Castro)

Royals’ Corina Dudiewicz shoots for two points with Geckos’ Zea Nauta defending the basket. (photo by Jesse Castro)

Geckos’ Zea Nauta drives the ball back into Royals’ territory. (photo by Jesse Castro)

Undefended, Royals’ Via DeFant sets up for a short jumper near the top of the key. (photo by Jesse Castro)

Geckos’ Dottie George shoots for two just off to the side of the key. (photo by Jesse Castro)

The Geckos and Royals take a break in between third and fourth period. (photo by Jesse Castro)

Geckos’ Ana Aguon drives into the paint and puts in a layup for two points over Royals’ Corina Dudiewicz. (photo by Jesse Castro)

[fbshare url=”http://www.gspnlive.com/basketball/royals-get-tough-win/” type=”button”] [fblike url=”http://www.gspnlive.com/basketball/royals-get-tough-win/” style=”standard” showfaces=”false” width=”450″ verb=”like” font=”arial”]

[/sixcol_five_last]