MILL CREEK — After victories by 33 and 25 over Edmonds-Woodway earlier in the season, it appeared the Lynnwood girls basketball team was in for a different kind of battle in the 3A district 1 semifinals at Jackson High School on Tuesday.
The Warriors led by seven at the end of the first quarter and had momentum on their side.
Then Royals came to life and showed why they’re the No. 2 3A team in the state.
Lynnwood used an 11-0 run in the second quarter to seize control and never let it go en route to a 67-51 win. The Royals advance to Saturday’s district championship game against Glacier Peak and also earn an automatic berth to the state regional round. Edmonds-Woodway will play a loser-out game on Thursday night.
Lynnwood head coach Everett Edwards is used to his team facing adversity in the Jackson gym. Two years ago, the Royals were eliminated in the state-regional round by Kentwood in a double overtime game. With his team down seven after one, the Royals called on lessons learned previously.
“Nervous, excited, whatever it is, we’ve been down that road before,” Edwards said. “In this gym we’ve experienced heartache and I call it the twilight zone. We talked about it before the game saying that we might be 10 points down and we would have to make the adjustments to come back and the prophecy came true.”
A big reason for the comeback was the Royals’ defense against Edmonds-Woodway point guard Moni Jackson, who finished the game with just six points.
“We paid a little bit more attention to Simone (Moni) Jackson, their point guard,” Edwards said. “We felt that she is their catalyst and if we could limit their touches it would mess up their offensive flow. That being said, they still hit some big shots, but I think their mojo got a little bit out of whack in terms of their offensive sets because other kids have to handle the ball.”
In addition to Jackson’s struggles, senior sharpshooter Natalie Kasper was held to six points as well.
“That was the gameplan,” Edwards said. “I’ve known Natalie since she was a little kid and she’s just a phenomenal shooter and if she gets it going it’s hard to stop and we knew that Simone would be an issue, so those we’re the two kids we kind of focused on.”
Lynnwood was led in scoring by junior Mikayla Pivec and sophomore Kelsey Rogers, who each scored 16.
“Kelsey is strong kid and she’s only a sophomore too,” Edwards said. “She’s only going to get better.”
At Jackson H.S.
Edmonds-Woodway 19 9 9 14 —51
Lynnwood 12 19 17 19 —67
Edmonds-Woodway—Kate Wooley 3, Mady Burdett 11, Natalie Kasper 6, Claire Fyfe 6, Moni Jackson 6, Lea Bakken 0, Missy Peterson 19. Lynnwood—Madison Eyer 0, Reilly Walsh 15, Monty Cooper 4, Jordyn Edwards 11, Mikayla Pivec 16, Sarah Grant 0, Kelsey Rogers 16, Kaprice Boston 2, Taylor Fahey 0, Valerie Bell 0, Abby Yemane 0, Danielle Hayes 3. 3-point goals—Wooley 1, Burdett 3, Kasper 2, Jackson 2, Peterson 4, Walsh 2, Edwards 2, Hayes 1. Records—Edmonds-Woodway 17-5, Lynnwood 20-2.
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