A close loss has the Edmonds-Woodway girls’ confidence soaring

Published 8:54 pm Thursday, February 25, 2016

EDMONDS — It’s a rare scenario where losing a game builds a team’s confidence, but in the case of the Edmonds-Woodway girls basketball team, it’s true.

The Warriors’ recent 56-44 loss to Lynnwood in the opening round of the 3A District 1 Tournament sparked a run that has led Edmonds-Woodway to the state regionals, one win from playing in the state quarterfinals in Tacoma.

The Warriors entered the district tournament as the eighth seed, the lowest of any of the competitors, and they drew the undefeated defending state champion Royals in the first round. They weren’t expected to win — and they didn’t — but they did compete with top-ranked Lynnwood for all four quarters, something few teams have done this season.

“After the game, we weren’t satisfied because we lost, but we weren’t really that upset,” junior guard Missy Peterson said. “This is the best team in the state and everybody is expecting us to lose that game and we went in there and we were like, ‘We know we can beat this team and we can compete with anybody out here.’ The fact that we came that close to the best team in the state, that was a huge confidence booster for us and the games coming up after that.”

While the game lifted the Warriors’ confidence, it also left them in a position of having to win three straight loser-out games in order to advance to regionals. The Warriors were up to the challenge. They beat Ferndale in their first loser-out contest, followed that up with a win over Glacier Peak and finished off the run with a victory over Shorewood to move on to regionals, where they will face Auburn Riverside (23-1) at 6 p.m. Friday at Puyallup High School.

So much for pressure.

“I don’t think there was a lot of pressure,” head coach Rebekah Wells said. “I didn’t feel it at practice or before the games. It was definitely more of a competitive drive.”

Senior guard Mady Burdett and Peterson have been the offensive leaders for the Warriors throughout the season, averaging 15.3 and 13.8 points per game, respectively. But the Lynnwood game helped other members of the team realize they needed to play prominent roles if the Warriors were going to be successful in the postseason.

“A lot of people stepped up,” Burdett said. “I think that opened up everyone else. Before people were kind of unsure of their roles, but after the Lynnwood game, people started making shots.”

The Warriors have been in this position before. They reached the state regionals two years ago in Wells’ first season as head coach. The difference this time is their experience and their opponent. The last time the Warriors played in a loser-out regional game, they were a 4A school and drew Mount Rainier, one of the top teams in the state led by Brittany McPhee, who now plays at Stanford. The Rams rolled to a 76-46 win.

“I think we get a better matchup this time,” Wells said. “Mount Rainier was just so phenomenal. The players they had, it just seemed out of reach of how to control them.

“The approach (this time) is how do we get our win and how do we make things work to our advantage?”

This time the Warriors get Auburn Riverside. The Ravens are 23-1, but that doesn’t bother the Warriors.

“We’ve played Lynnwood and they’re undefeated, so it doesn’t affect us at all,” Burdett said. “We don’t really look at the record, we just look at the team.”

The Ravens won their first 23 games before losing 50-33 to Lincoln in their district championship game on Saturday. They have a formidable backcourt led by juniors McKenzi Williams and Olivia Denton, along with a talented post player in junior Faith Turner.

“I see a lot of Glacier Peak in them — a lot of driving, great outside shooting and a really good post,” Wells said. “It’s just controlling those factors. We’re a smaller team. Can we control the taller girls and not let them get so many rebounds? Can you control the outside shooting and not get in foul trouble from people driving?

“We have film of them. We have film of their loss, so we know what we’re getting into.”

With no one on the Edmonds-Woodway roster taller than 5-foot-11, finding a way to combat their lack of size might be the Warriors’ biggest challenge.

“I really think a key to beating this team is rebounding,” Peterson said. “They’re bigger than us, which is not unusual. We’re not the biggest team and we play teams that are bigger than us every day. We have to take away driving lanes, which is really huge. We really need to stay focused and not get down on ourselves if they make a run or something like that.”

The Warriors also have to convert a high percentage of their long-range shots, which has been a strength much of the season. Wells expects the Ravens to run a 2-3 zone, which should result in open shots if her team can move the ball effectively.

“We just don’t want to get in a rut,” Wells said. “Sometimes we get in our own heads when we aren’t making our shots. As long as we’re making our shots and we have a good momentum in the game, then we’re good.”

It’s been two years since the Warriors were this close to the Tacoma Dome and Peterson doesn’t want to let the opportunity slip away.

“The Tacoma Dome would mean everything to me,” she said. “This is something I’ve been dreaming about since I was in fourth grade. I go watch (the state tournament) every single year. This is what I’ve honestly been waiting for for so long. Freshman year we were one game away, last year we were two games away. I know this is something that Mady and I have been waiting for forever to go play at the dome together.”

Aaron Lommers covers prep sports for The Herald. Follow him on Twitter at @aaronlommers and contact him at alommers@heraldnet.com.