Royals’ hardwood bully helps knock out Mavericks
Published 7:09 pm Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Lynnwood’s Meghan Cross is as friendly as they come. But on game night she morphs into a hardwood bully.
The 5-foot-10 senior forward relishes the role of menace, and it showed as she helped the Royals knock out Meadowdale 49-40 in a Western Conference 3A girls basketball game Dec. 16 at Lynnwood High School.
“I am a bully,” Cross happily volunteered during an interview earlier in the season. “I love playing that role. It’s fun to go out there with that type of mind frame. It’s important that we get more physical, especially since we lost Mokun (Fajemisin). The problem is that we’re not a big team. So it’s important that we send a message early.”
The Royals, who lost last year’s leading scorer and rebounder in Fajemisin for the season after she tore her anterior cruiate ligament over the summer, improved to 5-1 in league and 7-2 overall.
“I thought we played hard tonight,” Lynnwood coach Everett Edwards said. “Meghan had a big night. She positioned herself right and she scored points when we really needed them. But it was a team effort, and now we have to move on to the next game.”
Cross scored seven of her team-high 15 points during a rough-and-tumble fourth quarter. The Royals never trailed in the game and led by as many as nine points in the fourth. Cross hit a 3-pointer and guard Jasmine Edwards added a free throw a few seconds later, which gave Lynnwood a 39-30 lead with 6:30 remaining in the fourth.
But the Royals couldn’t shake off the pesky Mavericks. Midway through the quarter, Meadowdale (1-3, 1-4) went on a two-minute, 7-2 roll, narrowing the deficit to four points. Senior guard Margreet Barhoum scored all seven points during the run. She finished with a game-high 18 points.
“First, I have to give credit to Lynnwood,” Meadowdale coach Troy Parker said. “They came out and played us tough. We’ve been having problems shooting the ball. And we have to change that right away if we’re going to win any games. It has been very frustrating. Who knows, maybe they’re moving the basket on us, I don’t know.”
The Royals were finally able to slam the door on the Mavericks as they outscored Meadowdale 8-3 in the final 2:32 of regulation. Cross, junior Linda Wilson and senior guard Casey Evans each contributed points en route to the Lynnwood victory. Evans and Wilson each scored seven points. Arsenia Ivanov hit four 3-pointers to finish with 12 points and Grace Douglas scored six points on two 3-pointers for Lynnwood.
SCOTS WIN THRILLER: Shorecrest’s Onyie Chibuogwu hit a contested 8-foot jumper as the buzzer sounded and the Scots beat Lynnwood 50-48 to take over first place in the Wesco 3A on Dec. 14. Lynwnood’s Megan Cross and Arsenia Ivanov both scored with 11 points.
