Two pairs of sisters key Lynnwood girls’ 52-44 win at Snohomish
Published 10:06 pm Wednesday, January 11, 2017
SNOHOMISH — Players on successful teams often talk about how a strong family feeling can emerge after bonding with teammates. On the Lynnwood girls basketball team, that feeling is a literal one.
The Royals feature two sets of sisters: senior Kaprice and freshman Nakia Boston; and senior Reilly and junior Rachel Walsh.
“It’s fun to watch,” Lynnwood coach Brent Hudson said after his team’s 52-44 win at Snohomish on Wednesday. “Kaprice tries to look out for her younger sister, and every once in a while Nakia gets tired of that. And Rachel and Reilly are just competitive. They love to get after it, and they push each other. The sister dynamic that those four have carries over to the rest of the team, which is good for all of us.”
All four of them contributed to Wednesday’s victory, a big one for the Royals, who came in with a 3-0 Wesco 3A mark, one-half game behind the Panthers, Stanwood and Shorecrest for first place.
“This was our best win of the year,” Hudson said. “We’ve been confident (all season). We hoped to be at the top of the division, so we’re at where we anticipated we’d be. But we’ve still got to play some great teams. We’ve got to keep working hard.”
Lynnwood (8-4 overall) took a 12-0 lead four-and-a-half minutes into the first quarter, led 28-16 at halftime and extended its advantage to as many as 18 in the second half.
“It was because of our defense,” said Reilly Walsh, who scored 10 points. “We knew they had a key post player (Kyra Beckman), so we doubled down on the post. Our defense got us off to a good start. (Snohomish) used a box-and-one defense that we weren’t used to seeing, so we ran some different (offensive) sets and played smart.”
The Panthers rallied in the fourth quarter, however. Snohomish cut the Royals’ lead to six with 55 seconds remaining, but could get no closer.
The Panthers (9-4 overall) entered the game ranked eighth in the Associated Press 3A state poll.
“We had poor starts in the first and third quarters, which allowed them to stretch out their lead,” said Snohomish coach Ken Roberts. “We just didn’t execute our plays at the start of both halves.
“We’re still inexperienced. We knew that with a young team, playing consistently wouldn’t happen. We’ve had some ups and downs, but hopefully we’ll (finish the season) in the top four or five (in the conference). We just need to cut down on the turnovers and get shots on every possession.”
Kelsey Rogers led the Royals with 16 points. Maya DuChesne scored 16 points for the Panthers, while Katie Brandvold had 12.
