MARYSVILLE — They are young, talented and explosive, and on Friday night the Edmonds-Woodway girls basketball team earned another adjective — state-bound.
The Warriors, with a squad comprised entirely of juniors and sophomores, pulled away from Arlington in the early moments and raced to a 69-44 victory in a 4A District 1 winner-to-state, loser-out game at Marysville-Pilchuck High School.
The outcome, which improved Edmonds-Woodway’s season record to 22-2, gives the team third place in the district and a spot in next week’s state tournament at the Tacoma Dome.
“This was one of our better games this year,” said first-year Edmonds-Woodway coach Duane Hodges. The players, he added, now “realize what we need to do in order to be a good team. It’s kind of a discovery thing.”
And the No. 1 thing they showed against Arlington, Hodges said, was a strong defensive effort. Edmonds-Woodway held the Eagles to just six points in the first quarter, six points in the third quarter, and in one eight-minute stretch of the late third and early fourth periods the Eagles went scoreless as Edmonds-Woodway ran off 19 consecutive points.
“We played with some defensive intensity,” Hodges said. “It’s so cliché to say, but defense drives the offense. And that’s what happened (for the Warriors).”
“We struggled a little bit with their pressure and I was surprised by that,” acknowledged Arlington coach Nathan Davis. “I thought we would do a little bit better.”
After each team scored an opening basket, Edmonds-Woodway ran off 11 straight points — eight by junior forward Ashley Albertson, who would go on to total a game-high 19.
Arlington stopped the string with a pair of free throws, but the Warriors scored another five in a row for an 18-4 margin late in the first quarter and the lead would stay in double digits the rest of the way.
The Eagles were within 45-31 late in the third quarter, but Edmonds-Woodway’s 19-0 run made it 64-31 midway through the fourth quarter.
The Warriors enjoyed a big lead of 36 points, 69-33, with just under three minutes remaining in the game, though Arlington won the battle of the substitutes in the late moments by scoring the game’s final 11 points.
Guard Alex Kenney added 18 points for Edmonds-Woodway, including nine in the first 3½ minutes of the fourth quarter. Two other Warriors reached double figures — forward Sydney Donaldson had 11 points and forward Angela Woods added 10.
For Edmonds-Woodway, this will be the team’s first trip to the girls state basketball tournament since the 1992-93 season. “So it’s historic,” Hodges said with a smile.
And for Arlington, it was a near-miss at the school’s first trip to the girls state tournament since the school moved to 4A a few years ago. It was also the first time in Davis’ four seasons as head coach that his squad had reached a district winner-to-state game.
“I think the idea of (potentially) going to state might have got in their heads a little bit,” Davis said of his players. “I mean, we played with great heart. But we were a little tight and we missed some shots we normally make.
“But give credit to Edmonds-Woodway,” he said. “They were on fire. They shot the ball really, really well.”
At Marysville-Pilchuck H.S.
Arlington619613—44
E-W2021820—69
Arlington—Abdo 3, Sarver 6, Evans 3, Duncan 2, Kesselring 10, Grogan 8, Daggett 1, Ferro 7, Wilson 4. Edmonds-Woodway—Kasper 7, Nash 3, Kenney 18, Tanjo 1, Albertson 19, Donaldson 11, Woods 10. 3-point goals—Sarver 2, Evans 1, Donaldson 2, Kenney 1, Kasper 1. Records—Arlington is 14-10. Edmonds-Woodway is 22-2.
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