TACOMA — The Lynnwood girls basketball team stole more than the show Thursday morning in Tacoma.
The top-ranked Royals collected 18 steals and scored 24 points off turnovers as they manhandled No. 2 West Seattle 60-36 Thursday in the Class 3A state quarterfinals at the Tacoma Dome.
“We had a lot of steals, and I don’t know if it’s a record — I don’t think so, we’ve had some games where we get a lot of steals — but it was fun to watch us, defensively, wear them down,” Lynnwood head coach Everett Edwards said. “…We’re very excited with our defense. Everybody knows what we do.”
Indeed, the Wildcats knew what to expect from Lynnwood. But the Wildcats could do little to combat the pressure, which sparked a 12-0 first-quarter run that put the Royals ahead for good.
“We knew exactly what they were going to do,” West Seattle head coach Sonya Elliott said. “We practice against it. We had guys come in and do the same defense, so I think there is a time as a coach where you show them what they’re going to be up against and you practice against it and it doesn’t always come through in the game. I’ll give Lynnwood great credit. They’re very good and they’re very aggressive and they do a great job of putting the pressure on.”
Jordyn Edwards and Mikayla Pivec led the Royals’ defensive effort with six steals apiece. For Edwards, a junior guard, defense is where she tries to leave her mark.
“My attack mode is always on the defensive end,” she said. “I always try to get deflections or steals whenever I can. I get my offense from my defense. … We keep on being more aggressive. I know it gets me really hyped up.”
Jordyn Edwards, who finished with a game-high 18 points, had back-to-back steals to score points in the first quarter and at one point stole the ball from West Seattle three times in four Wildcats’ possessions.
“She is just a great all-around player for us,” Everett Edwards said of his daughter. “Everybody recognizes her for the defense, but she can shoot and pass the ball. … She wasn’t even hitting rim today, it was nothing but net.”
Pivec, too, takes pride in playing aggressive defense.
“It’s very important to us,” the 5-foot-10 junior wing said. “If they don’t score, it helps us win.”
The Royals (23-2 overall) held a West Seattle team averaging almost 60 points per game to a season-low 36. Lydia Giomi, the 3A Metro Most Valuable Player who averages 15 points and 11 rebounds per game, scored just five points and had two rebounds as Lynnwood swarmed the 6-foot-6 post.
The Wildcats played without their starting point guard, Gabby Sarver, who tore an anterior cruciate ligament three weeks ago. Elliott said not having their point guard added to the Wildcats’ struggles against Lynnwood’s pressure.
“It really hurts us not to have our point guard in those types of situations,” Elliott said. “We’ve had to do point guard by committee and not having Gabby in the game in this type of situation is where we see that.”
No one scored more than 11 points for West Seattle (22-5). Charli Elliott led the Wildcats, who shot 29 percent (12-for-42) for the game.
“It’s nice to play someone that isn’t (league rivals) Glacier Peak or Edmonds-Woodway because they’re used to what we do. It’s nice to play somebody new,” Everett Edwards said. “You might see what we do, but when you have to play against it, it’s a little bit different in terms of our speed, our length and our aggressiveness.”
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