MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — Coming off her team’s first loss of the season earlier in the week, not to mention Thursday’s Christmas holiday, Edmonds-Woodway girls basketball coach Rebecca Wells was hoping to see her team play well in Friday’s opener of the Mountlake Terrace Holiday Tournament.
As it turned out, she got all she hoped for and more.
The Warriors scored the game’s first 11 points, had another scoring run of 22 consecutive points later in the opening period, and went on to defeat Lakewood 86-32 for their eighth victory in nine games this season.
Behind the 28 points of 5-foot-10 guard-forward Natalie Kasper, a smooth shooting senior, Edmonds-Woodway punished the Cougars inside and outside. Kasper scored from everywhere on the court, but mostly in transition and from the 3-point line, including five goals from beyond the arc.
The Warriors had nine players in uniform for the game and all nine had scored by halftime, which saw them leading 58-21.
Friday’s game was the first for Edmonds-Woodway since last Monday’s 63-50 home loss against Blanchet, which was a showdown of undefeated teams. It was a heartbreaking setback for the Warriors, who saw a lead slip away in the late minutes.
“It’s nice to come off the Blanchet game and get a good win,” Wells said. “Everyone got some playing time and everyone got to score. … Defensively it seemed like we were sometimes a little sluggish with our feet, but overall we were pretty good.”
In addition to Kasper, the Warriors had three other players score in double figures. Moni Jackson had 13 points, Mady Burdett added 11 and Claire Fyfe chipped in 10.
The game highlighted one of the strengths for the Warriors this season, which is their “unselfish nature,” Wells said. “On this team anybody can have a good game and score a lot of points, and we’ve had different scoring leaders. … As long as we’re ahead or in the game, they don’t really focus too much on who’s scoring the points.”
Though Edmonds-Woodway has won convincingly this season — seven of the team’s eight victories have been by 23 or more points, and four have been by 37 or more points — there are challenging games ahead. After playing Redmond tonight in their second game of the Mountlake Terrace tournament, the Warriors will face top Wesco 3A contenders Arlington, Lynnwood and Glacier Peak in January, all in the space of nine days and all on the road.
“We have some really good teams coming up (on the schedule),” Wells said, “so we’re getting ready for that. But I think we’re doing really well. There’s some things we can be more consistent on, but overall I see us improving … and we can only get better.”
After a slow start, Lakewood battled gamely the rest of the way. Marissa Blair led the Cougars in scoring with 11 points, including three 3-pointers.
At Mountlake Terrace H.S.
Lakewood 6 15 8 3 — 32
Edmonds-Woodway 34 24 17 11 — 86
Lakewood—Jelly Perry 0, Natalie Neer 3, Emily Senyitko 5, Taylor Storms 2, Hayley Senyitko 7, Jenna Langdon 0, Marissa Blair 11, Reille Jones 4. Edmonds-Woodway—Kate Wooley 5, Allie Browning 2, Mady Burdett 11, Natalie Kasper 28, Claire Fyfe 10, Keitra Jones 7, Moni Jackson 13, Lea Bakken 4, Missy Peterson 6. 3-point goals—Natalie Neer 1, Emily Senyitko 1, Hayley Senyitko 1, Marissa Blair 3, Kate Wooley 1, Mady Burdett 1, Natalie Kasper 5, Claire Fyfe 1, Moni Jackson 1. Records—Lakewood is 2-5. Edmonds-Woodway is 8-1.
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