Lanners and Winscher lead Royals over Johnnies

And when the game is on the line, Lanners isn’t afraid to dish the ball either. Just ask Brooke Winscher.

Winscher finished with 21 points in Royalton’s 61-34 victory over St. John’s Prep on Jan. 26. Many of these points came directly from passes by Lanners who finished with six assists.

Lanners also supplied her own offense posting 20 points.

For Lanners, two points came on a steal and an easy layup in the early minutes of the first half that forced St. John’s to call a time-out. At that point the score was 12-5, Royalton.

For Lanners, three points came when she took a shot from the low post drawing a foul and made the free throw that followed with ease.

Drawing fouls was supposed to be St. John’s game plan. The Johnnies possess a strong post player in senior post Anna Merkle and they don’t mind going to her either. Merkle played the entire game, took nearly half her team’s shots and finished with 13 points and 15 rebounds.

Royalton knew ahead of time that Merkle was to be the “go to” threat. Covering her fell to Winscher and senior post Jessie Meyer.

“Merkle is a tough post player; she has great moves and works pretty hard. We told Jessi Meyer and Brooke Winscher that their job was to match up with her and contest every pass and shot. Then we had at least one player drop off to double up because Merkle usually puts the ball down before she goes to the basket,” Makela said.

The strategy worked and while Merkle wasn’t shutout, she was contained, leading the Royals to expand their lead and the frustrations of St. John’s to mount.

With 9:46 left in the second half, St. John’s Head Coach Robert Szorc’s frustrations exploded with what he perceived to be a non-call by the official. The coach was given a technical foul and the Royals sunk all three free throws, taking a 36-25 lead and expanding it to 39-25.

St. John’s never threatened again and the last three minutes of the game found the Royals junior varsity logging playing time.

“I feel very fortunate when I go to the gym every day and get to work with these girls,” Makela said. “We give them a game plan and they work really hard to follow through with it.”