Royal Oak Girls Basketball Loses to Ferndale, 55-45

FERNDALE – The girls varsity basketball team was down 21 points after the third quarter Friday night against Ferndale. Coach Brian Sopata looked at his girls in the huddle and told them to win the fourth quarter.

The girls nearly did him one better. The Ravens almost erased a 47-26 deficit to win the game by opening the fourth with a 17-0 run. The Ferndale Eagles were able to hold on and win 55-45, but Royal Oak certainly made them fight for it in the final minutes.

“The thing I said to our girls, we got a lot of pride in our locker room, I said one possession at a time and lets win this quarter,” Sopata said. “We showed a lot of heart and cut it to a 4-point game.”

Ferndale’s young guards had trouble advancing the ball against Royal Oak’s pressure defense in the fourth quarter and a combination of turnovers and poor shooting almost opened the door for a big comeback.

Senior Sydney Gossett hit a 3-pointer, senior Alexus Griffin converted a 3-point play after getting fouled on a layup and sophomore Sami Stormont had 5 points in a scoring surge to start the fourth.  

The Ravens (10-6; 7-4 Oakland Athletic Association Blue) had Ferndale on its heels, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough.

The Eagles regained their composure in the final two minutes to put the game out of reach. Ariel Walker hit a layup on a nice pass from Micaela Ellis with 1:43 to go to stop the scoring drought and then Taryn Stephens beat the press for a layup at the 1:21 mark to give the Eagles a 51-45 lead.

“The thing I’m most proud of is they showed their character,” Sopata said. “We battled back."

The Eagles (8-7; 7-4 OAA Blue) had big runs in the first and third quarter to put them in control. Junior forward Janecia Jenkins was at the center of both. 

Ferndale opened the game with a 16-3 run in the first six minutes. The starters had 13 offensive rebounds, Jenkins and Elissa Parker each had five, in the quarter. Parker and Jenkins each had a pair of put backs off the glass as well.

“Bottom line is they get after to it on that end, they absolutely get after it,” Sopata said. “We knew we were going to give up a few (offensive rebounds), but we obviously gave up too many.”

In the third quarter it was more of the same. The Eagles outscored Royal Oak 15-2 and turned an 8 point halftime lead into 21 points. Jenkins scored 6 points in the final 90 seconds of the quarter.

“She just has a nose for the ball,” Ellis said. “And she’s just a beast on the boards.”

Jenkins finished the game with a huge double-double, 17 points and 24 rebounds.

The Ravens offense was nowhere to be found in the quarter. They had a stretch of six minutes with no field goals and Stormont was a non-factor in the quarter.

She scored 12 of the Ravens 24 first half points, but zero in the third. Any time her teammates passed her the ball, Ferndale forced it out of her hands with double teams. Her teammates had some open shots only to come up short.

“We got some looks, but didn’t hit them, you got to hit some of those,” Sopata said. “On their end they got a couple of big three point baskets and offensive rebounds. That’s what they do; they really get after it. We didn’t answer some of their baskets.”

The game was for a share of second place in the OAA Blue and now the Ravens will need to win out to guarantee themselves at least a share of second place. Royal Oak has four games left on the schedule and will finish the season with two difficult road games against Farmington and Andover.

Notes:  Stormont was the Ravens' leading scorer with 19 points. The only other player on Royal Oak who had double digits was junior Mariah Gardziola, who finished the game with 12 points.