Prep girls basketball: Kamiak 53, Edmonds-Woodway 48

Published 10:55 pm Wednesday, December 21, 2011

MUKILTEO — After falling behind 22-16 through the first half, Kamiak turned to seniors Kate Blackwell and Erika Larson to pull out a vital Wesco South win over Edmonds-Woodway 53-48 on Wednesday night.

Kamiak coach Wes Williams noticed that Edmonds-Woodway was leaving its middle open after switching defenses in the second quarter, enabling the Warriors to go on a 12-3 run to end the half ahead 22-16.

“In the second quarter we went away from what we had practiced,” Williams said. “They switched up defenses and I made an adjustment … pulled our big out of the middle to exploit the height mismatch with Erika (Larson) on their guards.”

After making the adjustments, the two seniors put Kamiak on their respective backs.

Blackwell scored all 13 of her points in the third quarter to help Kamiak close to within one point. Larson took over with 12 of her game-high 16 points in the fourth as the Knights took control and outscored E-W 23-9 in the decisive final quarter.

“We knew it was going to be a tough game,” Edmonds-Woodway head coach Duane Hodges said.

Selena Taylor was a factor for the Knights, grabbing 12 rebounds and scoring six points. Her 10 defensive rebounds were particularly instrumental.

“We got on the defensive glass big time,” Williams said. “Taylor was all Windex tonight, she cleaned the glass for us.”

With a win on their ledger after a tough conference matchup, Kamiak will emerge from its Christmas break with three games in a KingCo/Wesco challenge next week where it will face Juanita, Redmond and Liberty.

“It’s a chance for us to play other people,” Williams said. “The girls are excited about it.”

At Kamiak H.S.

Edmonds-Woodway1012917—48

Kamiak1331423—53

Edmonds-Woodway—M. Kasper 13, Eck 9, N. Kasper 8, Nealey 0, Spencer 1, Vogel 0, Jackson 11, Olajoyegbe 6. Kamiak—Downing 0, Blackwell 15, Patricki 2, Batie 5, Taylor 6, Plourd 6, Aboulhosn 0, Dean 2, Larson 16, Slack 1, Stoltz 0. 3-point goals—M. Kasper 1, N. Kasper 1, Jackson 2, Batie 1. Records—Edmonds-Woodway 2-2 league, 4-4 overall. Kamiak 3-1, 5-2.