Fajemisin’s post play sends Lynnwood Royals to state

SNOHOMISH — Mokun Fajemisin and the rest of the Lynnwood girls basketball team didn’t want to see their season end with a poor offensive performance.

Add in the feeling of yet another season spent without making a trip to the 3A state tournament and Lynnwood found all the motivation it needed to spark a second-half turnaround and clinch a spot in the state tournament Saturday night at Glacier Peak High School.

Fajemisin utilized her physicality in the key and dominated the paint with 17 points and four blocks as Lynnwood crawled out of a 10-point halftime deficit to secure its first trip to the state tournament in 16 years with a 48-40 win over Glacier Peak in the 3A District 1 tournament.

“We just knew that Glacier Peak, without Majorie (Heard), they’re missing a big presence inside and we knew we had to take advantage of that because we have a lot of girls that can play inside,” said Fajemisin, who scored 11 points in the third quarter to help spark an 11-3 Royals run to start the second half. “In the second half we were just able to exploit that (inside game).”

Heard, Glacier Peak’s leading scorer, was out of action since the end of January with a broken foot, but the University of Washington basketball commit played the final 8.4 seconds and took a 3-pointer as the clock wound down on her outstanding prep career.

“We managed to learn to play a different style of game with a younger squad,” Glacier Peak head coach Brian Hill said of Heard’s absence during the end of the season. “We did pretty well.”

It appeared nothing would stop Lynnwood from pushing the ball inside during the second half. Glacier Peak’s aggressive defense got in trouble as the Royals converted 25 of 36 free throws in the game, including 18 of 22 (81 percent) in the second half and the Grizzlies were whistled for nine third-quarter fouls (15 in the second half).

“We couldn’t stop Mokun and all we could do was double-down on her,” Hill said. “We’d either foul her or she would score.”

“I hoped it would be that type of a (physical) game, that suits our strength,” Lynnwood head coach Everett Edwards said. “We hope to pound it inside, and it was a very physical and aggressively played game, but that was the type of game we hoped to play.”

Laycee Hill, a 5-8 senior guard, consistently drove strong to the hoop and finished with 13 points and Lynnwood’s defense contained Glacier Peak in the second half — forcing the Grizzlies to shoot just three of 17 from the field.

Glacier Peak finished the game shooting 13-for-43 (30 percent) as the Royals closed down on inside shots and forced the Grizzlies (15-11) to shoot from long range — Glacier Peak made four of 20 3-pointers.

Freshman Linda Wilson, a 5-10 post for Lynnwood (14-12), stepped up with her only four points in the clutch final minutes to help the Royals maintain a slight edge.

Glacier Peak sophomore Katie Hawkins finished with 12 points and scored a layup in traffic with her left hand to cut Lynnwood’s lead to two points, 42-40, with 1:26 remaining in the game.

Lynnwood struggled early with poor shooting. The Royals, who last made the state tournament in 1994 and beat Meadowdale for the first time in 15 years earlier this week, converted just four of 21 shots in the first half, including 0-for-6 from behind the 3-point line as Glacier Peak ran out to an 11-point lead in the second quarter.

“We just didn’t want our season to end (with a loss),” Fajemisin said. “We knew that we had a great opportunity having two chances to qualify for state and we didn’t want to ruin that.”

Saturday night, nothing was going to keep Lynnwood away from the hoop, despite being out-rebounded 32-29 by the Grizzlies.

“This is huge,” Edwards said. “Beating Meadowdale for the first time in 15 years, that was a big hurdle to get over … It’s good to get the win.”

“It shows that Lynnwood is turning around,” Fajemisin added.

At Glacier Peak H.S.

Glacier Peak141187—40

Lynnwood4111914—48

Glacier Peak—Granger 2, Hawkins 12, Smith 5, Rasmussen 6, Gaffney 0, Hill 0, VanDlac 0, Gere 2, Freitas 5, Weathersby 8, Heard 0. Lynnwood—Cross 1, Hella 0, Hill 13, Evans 9, Fajemisin 17, Parker 4, Wilson 4. 3-point goals—Freitas 1, Hawkins 2, Rasmussen 1, Evans 1. Records—Glacier Peak 15-11 overall. Lynnwood 14-12.

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