EDMONDS — Earlier this season, the Lynnwood girls basketball team defeated Edmonds-Woodway by 33 points.
The two teams met again in a game that had a large say into who will win the Wesco 3A/2A South league championship. The Warriors trailed by just nine points at halftime, but by the time the game was over the final score was closer to that of the first game. After a 78-53 win, Lynnwood has clinched at least a share of the Wesco 3A/2A South championship.
Though the final margin of victory might not show it, Edmonds-Woodway was much more competitive against the Royals the second time around.
“I’m very happy with our overall effort because Edmonds-Woodway was bringing the thunder a little bit tonight,” Lynnwood head coach Everett Edwards said. “They were rebounding better and they were playing tougher. For us to face a little bit of adversity with only being up nine points at the half, I think we showed great character playing good basketball in the second half.”
Lynnwood led 20-7 after the first quarter, but a 22-point second quarter by the Warriors kept the deficit to single digits at 38-29 at halftime. The second half, however, belonged to the Royals. Lynnwood outscored Edmonds-Woodway 40-24 to turn a close game into a blowout.
Leading the way for Lynnwood was junior Mikayla Pivec. Despite Edmonds-Woodway’s best efforts to stop the Royals’ leading scorer, Pivec finished with a game-high 25 points — 17 of which came in the second half.
“I know that Coach Wells had Edmonds-Woodway running a box-and-one on Mikayla, primarily, and Jordyn (Edwards),” Edwards said. “To be able to score 25 points when they’re trying to stop you just shows her skill as a player, but also our ability to play good team ball. We had other kids step up and make great passes and make great shots. I didn’t realize she had 25 points. That’s pretty good.”
The Royals built their early lead by making their first three shots of the game — all 3-pointers. Less than two minutes into the game Lynnwood was up 9-2.
“That was a great start,” Edwards said. “We practiced shooting threes and we practiced pounding it inside. It was a situation where we got off to a great start, but obviously that didn’t last very long.”
Edmonds-Woodway kept it close in the second quarter and the early part of the third before Lynnwood started to pull away. It seemed as though every time Edmonds-Woodway would get to within nine, Lynnwood would answer with a quick run of its own.
“Our defense keys a lot of that,” Edwards said. “Whenever we get those quick spurts like that it’s usually because of our defense.”
The Warriors may have hit more of their shots than they did the first time they played Lynnwood, but they also turned the ball over significantly more, finishing with 28 turnovers.
“I think it was a lot in our control,” Wells said. “We turned the ball over way too many times. Once you turn over the ball they get a fast break and they get points.
“With a team like Lynnwood you can’t have 30 turnovers. You can’t have 30 turnovers against anyone and expect to win or be in that game.”
Aaron Lommers covers prep sports for The Herald. Follow him on Twitter at @aaronlommers and contact him at alommers@heraldnet.com.
At Edmonds-Woodway H.S.
Lynnwood 20 18 24 20 —78
Edmonds-Woodway 7 22 14 10 —53
Lynnwood–Madison Eyer 0, Reilly Walsh 6, Monty Cooper 9, Jordyn Edwards 16, Mikayla Pivec 25, Sarah Grant 0, Kelsey Rogers 12, Kaprice Boston 4, Taylor Fahey 0, Dani Hayes 6. Edmonds-Woodway–Kate Wooley 0, Allie Browning 0, Mady Burdett 3, Natalie Kasper 13, Claire Fyfe 11, Keitra Jones 0, Moni Jackson 14, Lea Bakken 0, Missy Peterson 12. 3-point goals–Lynnwood: Hayes 2, Walsh 1, Edwards 3. Edmonds-Woodway: Jackson 4, Kasper 3, Peterson 1, Burdett 1. Records–Lynnwood 10-0 league, 17-1 overall. Edmonds-Woodway 8-2, 15-3.
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