With three 10-point leads in the second quarter, the dream of going to state for the first time in 13 years seemed very real for the Marysville-Pilchuck girls basketball team in a 4A District 1 playoff game against Edmonds-Woodway on Feb. 19.
In the fourth quarter, after the Warriors stormed back to take a four-point lead of their own, that dream seemed in danger of slipping away.
But the Tomahawks battled back themselves and pulled out an exciting 56-54 victory that sends them to the 4A state tourney for the first time since the 1996-97 season — the senior season for current Marysville-Pilchuck head coach Julie Martin, who is in her seventh season.
“This whole season, the (Tomahawks) have been working their hearts out,” Martin said. “To be able to go to state is just unimaginable to them. … I’m so overwhelmed right now. It’s so great.
“They’re so competitive and a really great team. One of the best I’ve coached. They have the heart you want in a team,” she said.
The win moves Marysville-Pilchuck into the upcoming district championship game. The Tomahawks will take on Lake Stevens, a Western Conference North rival, at 8 p.m. Feb. 27 at Jackson High School. Edmonds-Woodway was scheduled to play Shorewood in a loser-out game on Feb. 23, after The Enterprise’s deadlines. The winner advances to a winner-to-state game on Feb. 26.
Against Edmonds-Woodway, which came into the game with just one defeat this season, Marysville-Pilchuck jumped to a 14-6 lead through one period and pushed the margin to 21-11 midway through the second quarter. The lead was still 10 late in the period, though the Warriors closed to 28-20 at halftime.
In the third quarter, Edmonds-Woodway began to chip away at the deficit. Guards Madeline Kasper and Alex Kenney both scored six points in the period, and the Warriors were within 42-38 heading into the final eight minutes.
Edmonds-Woodway scored the first four points of the last quarter, and from there the two teams traded baskets until the Warriors ran off six straight points for a 52-48 edge. But they would score just two points the rest of the way, and the Tomahawks got some timely free throws to move back in front in the late moments.
Warriors forward Angela Woods had a chance to tie the game in the closing seconds, but her running shot from the lane bounced off the rim just before time expired.
“Edmonds-Woodway is a great team,” Martin said. “They have shooters and they have drivers. … But we just run, run, run … to get them tired. And I think my girls did a really good job of pushing the ball and working together.”
Guard Morgan Martinis had 18 points to lead Marysville-Pilchuck, including four 3-point goals.
Edmonds-Woodway overcomes 1st playoff game jitters
By Rich Myhre
For The Enterprise
EDMONDS — The Edmonds-Woodway girls basketball team lost its opening 4A District 1 playoff game a year ago, and this season’s returning players had suffered with that memory ever since.
“They remember last year when they kind of laid an egg in the first round, and they didn’t want to do that again,” said Edmonds-Woodway coach Duane Hodges. “That’s been on their minds all year.”
Which is maybe why the Warriors “were a little nervous” in the early moments of their 2009-10 postseason opener against Arlington on Feb. 16, he said.
The team’s jitters, combined with a gritty opponent from Arlington, made for a hard-fought first half. But in the second half, Edmonds-Woodway settled down and pulled away for a 63-47 victory, the team’s 20th of the season and 16th in a row since an early-season loss to Meadowdale.
By the final horn it was a one-sided margin. But in the early minutes, Arlington gave the Warriors all they could handle.
“You’ve got to hand it to (the Eagles),” Hodges said. “They executed so well in the halfcourt, and in the first quarter especially. We kind of had an idea what they were going to run, but they just executed so well we were almost powerless to stop it.”
Edmonds-Woodway trailed 14-13 after one period, and did not go ahead to stay until late in the second quarter when guard Alex Kenney dropped in two free throws, putting the Warriors in front 22-20.
Those points turned out to be the start an 11-0 string that Edmonds-Woodway carried into the early minutes of the third quarter. And after Arlington scored a field goal, the Warriors ran off another eight unanswered points for a 17-point margin, 39-22, their biggest of the game.
Yet the Eagles battled back. Trailing 46-32 heading into the fourth quarter, Arlington carved the lead to eight and could have drawn within six, but a shot by guard Quinn Kesselring swirled the rim and rolled out.
The Warriors eased away in the late moments with a succession of free throws.
“I thought we played with a lot of heart,” said Arlington coach Nathan Davis. “We never gave up. We battled through some adversity and came back. We just didn’t quite finish the job.”
Edmonds-Woodway’s Angela Woods led all scorers with 18 points, while teammates Sydney Donaldson added 15 and Ashley Albertson had eight points and 19 rebounds, the latter tying a season high.
Kesselring and Ginny Wilson each had 12 points for the Eagles.
Edmonds-Woodway advanced to face Marysville-Pilchuck Feb. 19 at Marysville-Pilchuck High School, falling 56-54. Arlington fell into the loser’s bracket and took on Kamiak in a loser-out game Feb. 18 at Marysville-Pilchuck, winning 57-54.
Rich Myhre writes for the Herald of Everett.
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