MICHAEL COONS/Simi Acorn ROUGH PLAY-Royal High's Cassie Suffolk is fouled by Alyssa Charles during Saturday's CIF playoff game at Royal High.

The 2003-2004 season finally came to an end for the Royal High School girls’ basketball team, but with a 24-4 final record, the Highlanders have little reason to mope.

Royal, the No. 2 team in the Marmonte League, lost to visiting Canyon Springs, 82-53, in the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section Division IA quarterfinal game. The Moreno Valley-based Cougars, an Ivy League co-championship team, left Simi Valley with a 24-4 record.

Royal head coach Mike Kohl already is looking ahead to next year.

When the Highlanders’ summer league begins in preparation for next season, four of this year’s starters will suit up.

Junior point guard Kelly Winther, junior center Valerie Quinn, junior shooting guard Tedra Clark and sophomore wing Jessi Selleh return next season. Senior center Cassie Suffolk is the only starter who will be missing.

"Cassie––in terms of improvement––has made more impact than any player who’s played at Royal in my 10 years as coach," Kohl said. "She’s a great player."

Royal will lose two others to graduation along with Suffolk: center Veronika Heteniak and wing Lanie Yeung.

"We’re going to be good next year," Kohl said. "We’ve got Kelly (Winther) and Valerie (Quinn). We’ve got everybody back. Cassie (Suffolk) is the only senior player of significant minutes, so obviously we’re going to be pretty good."

The Highlanders also have several new players slated for the varsity.

"We’ve got two JV post-players––Cassie’s little sister (sophomore Nicole Suffolk)," the coach said. "She’s 6-foot-2, so we’ve got quite a few kids. We’ll be good next year."

In the quarterfinal loss, Canyon Springs jumped to an 8-6 lead as Royal sophomore post Becca Heteniak scored with 4:56 remaining in the first quarter.

Highlanders failed to score during the remaining 3 minutes of the quarter and trailed, 28-6, as the second period began.

By halftime Royal had cut the deficit to 38-20.

The Highlanders roared back in the second half and closed the gap to nine as Winther scored with 2:18 remaining in the third period, but that was as close as the home team could get.

"When they banked in that 3-pointer at the end of the third, that was a tough one for us because we had played well in the third quarter to get back into it," Kohl said.

The team stuck to fundamentals and emphasized rebounding, he said.

Winther led all Royal scorers with 22 points, five steals and four rebounds. Cassie Suffolk added 15 points, six blocked shots and four rebounds.

For Canyon Springs, Brandi Jones-Fitzgerald scored 23 points and pulled down 13 rebounds. Jennifer Risper got 19 points and Lauresha Hawkins added 13.

Although Winther connected on two of her 3-point attempts, she was the Highlanders’ only player to hit from long-range territory.

"We didn’t shoot the ball very well," Kohl said. "Their (Canyon Springs) shooting percentage was very high, I’m sure. It was a tough game."

The Highlanders advanced to the quarterfinals with an 80-46 rout against the Channel Islands Raiders of the Pacific View League, and a 67-53 win over the Arroyo Grande Eagles of the Pac-5 League.

In addition to a strong Marmonte League season and its second consecutive quarterfinal appearance, the Highlanders performed well in preseason play.