EDMONDS — Take away the first quarter and Jackson battled Edmonds-Woodway basket for basket in last week’s Western Conference 4A South Division girls basketball showdown.
Unfortunately, a disastrous first-quarter performance put the Timberwolves in a deep hole they were never able to dig themselves out of and the Warriors coasted to a 66-49 victory Dec. 19 at Edmonds-Woodway High School.
Both teams struggled from the field in the first four minutes of the first period. Edmonds-Woodway eventually found its groove and broke open a 2-2 game with an 18-3 run and headed into the second quarter with a commanding 20-5 advantage.
“That was the game,” first-year Jackson coach Jeannie Howell said. “We just came out flat, didn’t execute and they put some pressure on us defensively and forced us out of our offense. I think that flustered the girls at the beginning.”
The Wolfpack was able to find its rhythm on offense in the second quarter and the second half but was unable to put much of a dent in the Warriors’ lead.
Edmonds-Woodway barely outscored Jackson 14-13 in the second quarter and 32-31 in the second half.
“The rest of the game we made some good shots,” said Jackson forward Sam McCracken. “If we could have played like that the first quarter, we would have been fine.”
Edmonds-Woodway junior forward Katie Trew scored 12 of her game-high 28 points in the first quarter and sophomore point guard Jessica Takara hit a pair of 3-point goals and tied her season-high scoring output with 18 points.
Trew was virtually unstoppable the entire game.
“We were playing tough defense on … Katie Trew but she was putting in every shot,” McCracken said.
Every adjustment the Timberwolves made against Trew didn’t seem to make much of a difference, according to Howell.
“She played unreal tonight,” Howell said of the 5-foot-10 junior. “We tried a lot of things on defense to keep her from doing that and it didn’t matter.”
McCracken scored 18 of her team-high 26 points in the second half.
“She is a really strong post,” Trew said. “Any team is going to have a lot of trouble with her.”
Point guard Carli McClenahan’s pinpoint passing found McCracken at the right time.
“Our point guard had a lot of great assists inside to get where we needed the ball and that helped a lot,” McCracken said.
The intensity Jackson exhibited in the second, third and fourth quarters for whatever reason was lacking in the first quarter.
“We didn’t pick it up in the first quarter,” McCracken said. “We need to come out strong in the beginning instead of waiting a full quarter and letting them score all their points.”
Howell noted that McCracken spends extra time working on her game after practice and her play in the second half was a reflection of her hard work.
“She just has really focused on improving herself on the offensive end and really wants to be a threat,” Howell said. “It’s easy to get her the basketball and once she gets it, she can do good things with it.”
The players are still trying to find their roles in a new system, Howell said.
“Unfortunately, we have to take a few lumps in order to find that groove,” she said. “I’m just hoping a couple of games from now we’ll find our rhythm and once we do we’ll be a contender.
“We need to figure out where everybody needs to be and figure out … the different roles we have on the team.”
The Wolfpack is still a young team that is getting used to Howell and her offensive and defensive schemes. Slow starts haven’t been a problem for Jackson, which fell to 0-3 in the league and 1-3 overall. A lull during the middle of its game against Meadowdale resulted in a 68-44 loss on Dec. 17.
Jackson has a non-league game at Blanchet on Dec. 29 and won’t resume league play until Jan. 3 when it hosts Everett.
For the most part, Howell was happy with the way her team played against Edmonds-Woodway.
“I wish I could get that first quarter back,” she said. “Other than that, we did the things we needed to.”
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