Young Edmonds-Woodway girls knock off state power
Published 10:25 pm Friday, March 5, 2010
TACOMA — It’s official. No one can describe these Warriors as young anymore.
Entering the girls 4A state basketball tournament the Edmonds-Woodway’s roster, which featured no seniors and no players who had even been alive the last time the Warriors were in the tournament, was strong but unproven.
A 56-53 victory over perennial state threat Lewis and Clark on Friday afternoon at the Tacoma Dome means that Edmonds-Woodway (24-3) will be a team that is considered a championship threat in 2011 and the likely favorite against Moses Lake (18-13) in the battle for fifth place this afternoon.
“It means a lot to beat a historically elite team in the state of Washington,” coach Duane Hodges said. “Whereas (Thursday) Federal Way was a newly elite team. To beat the history is good … We are approaching our goal. We wanted to win on the last day of state.”
The Warriors, who had a tough draw with No. 1-ranked Auburn-Riverside in the first round, are assured of at least eighth place. But they have their sites set higher.
“It would mean a lot,” guard Madeline Kasper said. “We had a really hard draw but we got there (to play Saturday).
A win would be the highest placing ever for the team since Edmonds and Woodway merged. In 1993 E-W placed sixth.
Kasper, a sophomore point guard tied for a team high with 15 points on 4-for-7 shooting from behind the 3-point arc.
It took until the final seconds for the Warriors to comfortably wrangle the Tigers. Lewis and Clark (17-11) featured a frontline of four players 6-feet or taller and four seniors who were around for the second and third of the Tigers’ three 4A state titles in a row.
LC led for most of the first half, its man-to-man defense stifling the Warriors post offense. E-W led 29-25 at the break thanks to Kasper and Ashley Albertson, who had nine at the break and finished the game with her third consecutive game with at least 14 rebounds.
Nakia Arquette and the Tigers came roaring back in the third to take a 39-37 advantage. Arquette had seven points in the quarter and finished with a game-high 16 points.
The Warriors adjusted their offense in the fourth quarter, going from a strict motion attack to one that took advantage of mismatches and the biggest beneficiary was Angela Woods. The junior forward finished with 15 points.
Her biggest came with 2:33 to go and the Warriors ahead by just two. Woods posted up a mismatch in the lane and stepped under her defender for the basket and foul to give E-W a 49-44 edge.
It was one of several heady veteran moves by the Warriors late.
“We’ve had three losses this whole year and after every loss that we have, we sit in the locker room and say we don’t ever want to feel that feeling again,” Woods said. “So if we are down we just think about that feeling and we apply that to the game.”
The Tigers would cut the lead to three points but E-W made just enough hay at the line, shooting 4-for-9 in the fourth quarter to hold off the late charge.
At the Tacoma Dome
Lewis &Clark15101414—53
Edmonds-Woodway1415819—56
Lewis &Clark—Bech 0, Arquette 16, Blevins 2, Burke 6, Moravec 0, Galland 14, Hendricksen 11, Proctor 1, Taka 3. Edmonds-Woodway—Kasper 15, Nash 0, Kenney 7, Tanjo 0, Albertson 12, Donaldson 7, Woods 15. 3-point goals—Kasper 4, Woods 2, Arquette 2, Galland 1. Records—Lewis &Clark 17-11 overall, Edmonds-Woodway 24-3.
