Lynnwood girls clinch playoff berth

Published 10:55 pm Thursday, January 20, 2011

BOTHELL — In the end, it came down to offensive efficiency in Thursday’s big Wesco 3A South girls basketball matchup between Lynnwood and Meadowdale. One team had it, and one team didn’t.

Behind an outstanding third quarter that saw them make 11 of 18 shots, the Royals pulled o

ff a season sweep of the Mavericks, winning 66-55 in a matchup of teams fighting for first place and looking for a top seed into the district tournament.

With the victory, Lynnwood (8-2 league, 13-3 overall) moves into first place, a half-game ahead of idle Shorecrest and clinches a trip to the 3A District 1 playoffs. Meadowdale (6-3, 8-7) drops to third place and has a big matchup with the Scots next week. Shorecrest holds a tiebreaker over Lynnwood after sweeping the Royals this season.

“To win the league, I never thought that would happen in my high school career,” said Lynnwood standout Mokun Fajemisin, who scored 12 of her team-high 16 points in the third quarter. “We still have work to do, but it would be an amazing accomplishment for this program if we were able to do that.”

If the Royals do win the conference and earn the top seed to the tournament, it’s likely going to be on the back of the 5-foot-11 Fajemisin, who not only was a force offensively but also defensively, blocking five shots. After a quiet first half, Lynnwood coach Everett Edwards clearly turned his team’s offensive focus inside to his leading scorer.

“We made a little adjustment and wanted to start taking advantage of things inside,” Edwards said. “A lot of teams know we’re going to try to go to her and so sometimes she’s a decoy. But in this matchup, we just tried to get her the ball and have her get to the rim.”

Meadowdale coach Troy Parker said Fajemisin is “so athletic and we just don’t have a good matchup for her. She’s so patient and she doesn’t just force things. She waits for her chance and then goes to the basket.”

That’s exactly what Fajemisin did in helping the Royals pull away Thursday.

A 3-pointer by Casey Evans from the top of the key sent Lynnwood into halftime ahead 28-22 and it took just a few seconds of the third quarter to see that Fajemisin, who was held scoreless in the second quarter, would make more of an impact in the second half. She scored on a layup and followed that with a short jump shot for a 10-point Royals lead. She added a free throw and a bank shot to put Lynnwood up 11.

Meadowdale answered with back-to-back 3-pointers by Julianne Kossian to get within 7 and the Mavericks had the ball with a chance to get even closer, but Fajemisin got a steal leading to a free throw that sparked an 8-0 run that included a 3-pointer by Arsenia Ivanov, a layup by Jasmin Edwards and, of course, a layup by Fajemisin. By then, it was 47-33 Lynnwood and Meadowdale got not closer than 8 the rest of the way.

“I didn’t feel like I was executing very well in the first half,” Fajemisin said. “I just tried to focus on getting to the basket and finishing my shots. That was our emphasis as a team.”

Lynnwood won despite shooting 37 percent. Of course it helped that Meadowdale shot 25 percent and turned the ball over 19 times, negating a rebounding edge.

“We were not a very efficient offensive team,” Parker said. “This was a big game and everyone understood what was at stake. They ran a lot of zone at us and I felt like some girls panicked offensively and that’s my responsibility. I have to have them better prepared for that.”

Margreet Barhoum, Meadowdale’s very quick junior guard who came in averaging 21 points, kept the Mavericks in it. She scored 23 points despite being the entire focus of the Lynnwood defense.

“She’s so fast that it’s really tough to adjust to her speed,” Everett Edwards said. “We really wanted to make other people score their points, and she still got 23, so that tells you what kind of player she is.”

Jasmin Edwards and Ivanov each scored 11 points and Meghan Cross had eight points, 10 rebounds and three steals for Lynnwood. Bianca Landa scored 15 points for Meadowdale.

With this matchup out of the way, both teams are focused on finishing strong and getting as high a seed as possible into the postseason.

“Seeding is huge because we want to play our games at home,” Everett Edwards said. “The final is at Lynnwood so if we can get our first two games here, that’s a big advantage.”

“The good thing is, this isn’t football, it’s not one game and you’re done, we still have a long way to go,” Parker said. “We have a big one with Shorecrest next. And really, it comes down to one game in February where you have to win a basketball game, and I think we will.”

At Lynnwood H.S.

Meadowdale 8 14 19 14 — 55

Lynnwood 14 14 26 12 — 66

Meadowdale — Barhoum 23, Landa 15, Reuble 2, Sanko 4, O’Neill 3, Kossian 6, Bretz 2, Rickel 0, Parker 0. Lynnwood — Edwards 11, Parker 7, Cross 8, Fejemisin 16, Ivanov 11, Evans 7, Wilson 3, Douglas 3, Maza 0. 3-point goals — Barhoum 3, Landa 2, Kossian 2, Parker 1, Ivanov 3, Evans 1, Douglas 1. Records — Meadowdale 6-3 league, 8-7 overall. Lynnwood 8-2 league, 13-3 overall.