Woodbury girls basketball: Royals fall behind 28-12, lose 59-54 to rival Park

It was a tale of two halves as the Woodbury girls basketball team fell 59-54 to Park in the two teams’ first Suburban East Conference game of the season on Friday, Dec. 9, at Woodbury High School.

Woodbury (1-3; 0-1 SEC) fell behind 28-12 to Park at the half. However, the Royals came back – all the way back – taking a 48-47 lead with 4:16 remaining on a layup by junior center Mikaela Hunter.

But, tied 54-54 with 52 seconds left to play, Park sophomore guard Sydney Lamberty netted a layup off an inbound pass under the Royals’ basket to give the Wolfpack a 56-54 lead. Then, Woodbury missed a shot and turned the ball over with 29.1 seconds left and Park senior Rachel Kothe hit 3 of 4 free throws in the final 19.7 seconds to seal the five-point win for Park (3-2; 1-0 SEC). Woodbury outscored the Wolfpack 42-31 in the second half.

The last time Woodbury lost to Park was Feb. 22 of 2008, 38-23 at Park, as the Wolfpack went 23-2 during the regular season.

Woodbury junior guard Kristina White paced the Royals with a team-high 13 points and Hunter chipped in 12 points. Also, junior center Elizabeth Sampson scored 10 points.

Lamberty led the way for the Wolfpack in the win, scoring a game-high 24 points.

After the Park game, Woodbury fell to Staples-Motley, the ninth-ranked team in Class AA, 63-53 on the road. The two teams were tied 26-26 at the half, but Staples-Motley (4-0) outscored the Royals 37-27 in the second half to earn the win. White had a game-high 26 points in the loss, while Sampson chipped in seven points as well.

Woodbury played host to SEC foe Mounds View (3-0; 1-0 SEC) on Tuesday, Dec. 13, after the Bulletin went to print. Next, the Royals travel to St. Paul to play Cretin-Derham Hall (3-1; 1-0 SEC) on Friday, Dec. 16.

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