EDMONDS — The last time Edmonds-Woodway and Snohomish met, in a consolation game at last season’s 3A Hardwood Classic, the Panthers ended the Warriors’ season, sending them home from the Tacoma Dome without a trophy.
On Friday night, 10 months later, Edmonds-Woodway and its senior-heavy group served a helping of revenge.
“A lot of it was my fire and my passion to get back at Snohomish, because last year they beat us pretty bad at the Dome,” said E-W senior Maddie McMahon of what was behind her and her team’s strong play. “It was just my want to get back at them.”
The Warriors commanded the game from beginning to end, deploying a gritty man defense and held the Panthers to a season-low point total during a 44-33 Wesco 3A/2A win in Edmonds.
The victory extended Edmonds-Woodway’s win streak to seven games and has the Warriors (7-4, 5-0 Wesco 3A/2A) alone on top of the league standings. The win streak comes after opening the season with four consecutive losses to challenging opponents.
Edmonds-Woodway’s starters — all seniors — delivered poise and well-rounded production, while reserves Halle Waram and Kaddy Kongira provided strong minutes off the bench. McMahon led all scorers with 13 points, and Jadyn Waram added 12. McMahon also had seven rebounds to go with four blocks.
“Over the last four years I have been here, we have had some just great battles,” said Warriors coach Jon Rasmussen of his matchups with perennial power Snohomish. “They could go either way, but we actually got the upper hand tonight.”
Snohomish struggled offensively much of the game against a prepared Edmonds-Woodway man-to-man defense.
Ella Gallatin (12 points) and Kinslee Gallatin (11) accounted for 23 of the Panthers’ 33 points. Only four Snohomish players scored.
The 33 points marked the fourth time this season Snohomish (3-8, 3-2), which has played an exceptionally difficult schedule, has scored in the 3os.
Snohomish recorded the game’s first two points, but Edmonds-Woodway quickly took the lead and stayed in front the rest of the way.
Jadyn Waram and McMahon helped the Warriors build a 13-8 first-quarter advantage, and E-W replicated that point total in the second quarter to take a 26-16 halftime lead.
But some hot shooting from Snohomish guard Cheyenne Rodgers and an 8-0 Panthers third-quarter run to close the third quarter put Snohomish right back into the game. The Panthers trailed 30-29 heading into the fourth.
“I think we came out a little timid in the third,” Rasmussen said. “(Snohomish coach) Ken (Roberts) came out and did a couple things against us. We adjusted and we came back and just played our game.”
Leading by one, McMahon made a 3-pointer 45 seconds into the fourth to push Edmonds-Woodway’s lead to 33-29. Brooke Kearney followed with a layup off a back-door cut, and a basket from Halle Waram built the Warriors’ lead to 37-29 with 5:20 to play.
Baskets by Ella Gallatin and Rodgers trimmed Snohomish’s deficit to 37-33 with 3:40 to go, but the Warriors’ defense shut the Panthers out down the stretch, and Snohomish couldn’t create turnovers against E-W’s experienced seniors.
“The thing is everyone on my court can score,” Rasmussen said of his veteran group. “In years past we might have one or two. I’m not saying Snohomish’s kids can’t score, but I know they have three main scorers there, where I have five kids out there that can score, and I’ve had multiple leading scorers this season. I didn’t play a lot of reserves, but my starters went hard, and it was a good game.”
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