When the Royalton Royals girls’ basketball team rolled into Long Prairie on Tuesday, Thunder head coach Steve Christians didn’t know what to expect from his opponent.

Royalton’s final scores have been a roller coaster this season, with some nights in the teens and others in the 70’s.

“We knew coming in that Royalton would play tough, but they are very streaky shooters,” Christians said.

It was a typical tail of two halves for Royalton as they started slow, but bounced back in the second half catching fire.

However, the damage had been done and the Thunder’s defense played well enough to come away with a 57-48 victory.

The game started with Royalton making a three to start their scoring, so one could imagine it could be one of their nights.

After that three, the Thunder defense clamped down and played well enough to maintain a solid lead and head into halftime with a 24-17 lead.

In the second half, Royalton started heating up, making four threes to get back into the game.

“We weren’t able to get out on the shooter that got hot and she ended up making those threes,” Christians said. “We cant give up shots like that. Our defense struggled in that second half. I know we’re tired, but we need to bust through that and keep playing defense because that’s what is going to win games for us.”

As Royalton was making their comeback, coach Christians called a timeout and addressed his team.

“I told them the one thing they can control is their defense, it’s the one thing that has nothing to do with the basketball,” he said. “Right now, defense is getting us beat.”

After the timeout, Royalton cooled off and the Thunder were able to take a good lead back.

Despite some good full court pressure from Royalton in the last few minutes, the Thunder were able to come away with a win.

The Thunder’s two post players Jenna Langer and Sam Zastrow led the Thunder in scoring with 25 and 23.

Langer led the team with nine rebounds while Zastrow had a team high seven assists.

Despite these numbers, coach Christians believed the key to the victory was point guard Laura Geisenhof.

“She played an all around great game, she helped get us set up in the offense and got it going,” he said. “As we saw in the last two minutes after she fouled out, she can see over the top and doesn’t get quite as flustered by the full court pressure. Not having her the last two minutes made it a little nerve-racking.”

Geisenhof finished with four points, eight rebounds, and six assists.

With the win, the Thunder improve to 5-5 overall and 4-2 in Prairie Conference play this year.

They will travel to take on another conference opponent in the Browerville Tigers this Friday.

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