MILL CREEK — For the second time this season the Lynnwood girls basketball team turned what appeared to be a showdown for first-place in the Wesco 4A south according to the standings into a blowout.
After dismantling Edmonds-Woodway earlier in the season, the Royals added Jackson to their list of victims on Monday with a 68-37 road victory.
Lynnwood improves to 11-0 in league play, two games ahead of the Timberwolves. The two teams meet again on Friday.
Royals head coach Everett Edwards had plenty of reason to be happy after Monday’s win, not only did his team put itself in the driver’s seat for a league championship, his daughter, senior point guard Jasmin Edwards led the way.
After missing her first three shots of the game, Edwards made her next seven finishing the first half with 18 points, including 4 of 5 from 3-point range.
“In her entire lifetime in a high-school game, I’ve never seen her shoot the 3-point shot with that efficiency,” Coach Edwards said.
“Jasmin has been a pretty clutch player in her four years of high-school basketball and there’s time where she’s able to step up and kind of seize the moment. Tonight she just led us in every single way.”
Edwards finished the game with 26 points and shot 6-for-8 from behind the 3-point line.
“I was just left open a few times and I just got my rhythm and they kept going in,” Edwards said. “It was just one of those nights.”
Even while scoring more points than anyone on the court, Edwards managed to stay true to her unselfish ways on the court. Early in the second half she passed up an open three from the baseline to give the ball to an open Grace Douglas, who after not making a shot all night, connected from long range. The shot proved to be a big confidence boost for Douglas, who didn’t miss a shot the rest of the game and finished with 13 points.
“They have been friends since they’ve been in first and second grade,” Coach Edwards said of his daughter and Douglas. “Jasmin knows the type of shots that Grace can hit. That was just a classic example of her selflessness in terms of wanting to get Grace going and get her confidence. She does that all the time, not only with Grace but each one of our players.”
Just as important as her offensive contribution, was Edwards’ play on the defensive end. Along with a little help from her teammates, Edwards held Jackson’s senior standout guard Kelli Kingma to six points and just one field goal.
It wasn’t just Kingma who struggled for the Timberwolves, who came into the game as one of the highest scoring girls teams in the area. Lynnwood held Jackson in single digits in the first and second periods and never allowed more than 11 points in a quarter.
“Every team is going to have their Michael Jordan,” Coach Edwards said. “It’s a situation where our team really works together and we’re getting better at our communication. We know how good she is and we’ve known it for years. To be able to play team defense and to limit the opportunities she had to get open looks, that’s just a great team effort.”
Making matters worse for the Timberwolves, Lopez-Flores went down with what looked to be a knee injury in the game’s final minutes. Jackson head coach Mark Haner and Coach Edwards helped carry her off the court and Haner helped her to the locker room after the game.
Haner didn’t know the extent of Lopez-Flores’ injury after the game.
Aaron Lommers covers prep sports for The Herald. Follow him on twitter @aaronlommers and contact him at alommers@heraldnet.com.At Jackson H.S.
Lynnwood 13 24 16 15 — 68
Jackson 9 7 11 10 — 37
Lynnwood—Jasmin Edwards 26, Monty Cooper 8, Grace Douglas 13, Mikayla Pivec 10, Kelsey Rogers 3, Chelsea Tuiasosopo-Campbell 0, Hannah Valavala 0, Jordyn Edwards 8, Amina Donahoe 0, Danielle Hayes 0. Jackson—Faithaleen Lopez-Flores 16, Sierra Anderson 10, Kelli Kingma 6, Imari Clinton 0, Emily Kipp 2, Anna Johnson 0, Mackenzie Conrad 1, Drew Locknane 2, Kassaundra Jackson 0, Emily Boyd 0. 3-point goals—Jo. Edwards 2, Ja. Edwards 6, Douglas 3, Anderson 2, Lopez-Flores 2,. Record —Lynnwood 11-0 league, 15-1 overall. Jackson 9-2, 13-3.
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