TACOMA — It could be the nerves of playing on the big stage or it could be the open backdrop behind the baskets, but shooting woes certainly aren’t uncommon when teams make it to the Tacoma Dome for the state basketball tournament.
The Lynnwood girls basketball team wasn’t immune to its share of shooting struggles in Thursday’s 3A state quarterfinal game against West Seattle, but luckily for the Royals it didn’t affect their 3-point shot.
The Royals shot just 14-for-44 on two-point field goals, but a blistering 7-for-11 from long range and rolled to a 60-36 win over West Seattle.
“We put in a lot of work in practice on shooting the ball and today it just really came through,” Lynnwood head coach Everett Edwards said. “A lot of our shots weren’t even touching rim.”
Lynnwood will face Bellevue at 5:30 p.m. on Friday in the semifinals at the Tacoma Dome. West Seattle will play a loser-out game against Prairie.
The Royals missed their first six shots and fell behind 4-0 in the game’s first two and a half minutes. Edwards called a timeout to calm his team and it worked like a charm. Lynnwood went on a 12-0 run and closed the quarter with a 14-2 stretch to lead 14-6 going into the second quarter. Leading the charge were juniors Mikayla Pivec and Jordyn Edwards.
“We got off to a little bit of a slow start in terms of the pace of the game,” Everett Edwards said. “It took two or three minutes to get it going, but once we kind of got going we were able to get some separation and Jordyn and Mikayla are obviously key components for that.”
Jordyn Edwards scored Lynnwood’s first points with 5:33 to play in the first quarter with a steal and a layup. Less than a minute later Lynnwood had an 8-4 lead, three of its four baskets created by its relentless defensive pressure.
By halftime, Lynnwood had a 29-17 lead and had 12 steals. Jordyn Edwards (six) and Pivec (five) combined for 11 of them.
“Defense is always the favorite part of my game,” Jordyn Edwards said. “I just try to look for steals and deflections whenever I can. When they pick up the ball I try to deny as much as I can. I just love defense.”
West Seattle, which came into the game ranked No. 2 in the state, committed 17 turnovers in the first half.
“That’s usually our whole game,” West Seattle head coach Sonya Elliot said of the unusually high amount of turnovers in the first half. “I think some of that is nerves, but you’ve got to learn to get through that. I think a lot of that is that they are a good team so give them credit there, but in order to play at this level you can’t do that. You have to take care of the ball.”
Lynnwood forced West Seattle into 23 turnovers for the game, but perhaps even more important, the Royals held Metro League MVP Lydia Giomi, who came into the game averaging nearly 15 points and over 10 rebounds per game, to five points.
“We wanted to play very aggressive, not only against her but against their whole team that was going to look to pass her the ball,” Everett Edwards said. “I think we did a good job of just being physical. We didn’t allow her height to disrupt what we wanted to do defensively. There was only a few possessions that I can think of where she was an issue inside for us.”
Jordyn Edwards finished with a team-high 18 points and made three of her four 3-point attempts. Senior Dani Hayes made two of her three tries from long range and sophomore Reilly Walsh and senior Monty Cooper each added one 3-pointer.
“We knew it was a big game,” Pivec said. “A lot of people played really well. Jordyn shot really well and that really helped. We just tried to play as good of defense and we could and that led to our offense.”
It wasn’t the best offensive game for Pivec, who finished just 3-for-14 from the field, but did have 11 points, 10 rebounds, six steals and four assists.
“I’ve said it before, we’ve got a good team,” Everett Edwards said. “If one particular player doesn’t have a great game then we have others that can step up in their place. It’s next person up. Thank goodness in basketball it’s five-on-five and I think we have a pretty good five kids that can play on the court.”
As for Pivec’s shooting struggles, her coach wasn’t worried.
“I know Mikayla is going to bring the thunder every time she’s on the court,” Everett Edwards said. “I know she’s going to come out with even more of an attitude tomorrow, so I’m very excited to see her play.”
After falling in the 4A state semifinals to Gonzaga Prep last season, the Royals will have another chance to get to the state championship game with a win over Bellevue on Friday.
“Bellevue is a good team and they have some tall posts, but (against West Seattle) we played some good posts,” Pivec said. “We’ll be ready.”
At Tacoma Dome
West Seattle 6 11 8 11 —36
Lynnwood 14 15 18 13 —60
West Seattle—Rosa Grossi 0, Izzy Turk 5, Lydia Giomi 5, Rilcy Newsome 0, Charli Elliott 11, Lani Taylor 0, Annalisa Ursino 0, Rachel Devore 0, Kathryn Anawalt 0, Lexi Ioane 7, Emily Fiso 8. Lynnwood—Madison Eyer 0, Reilly Walsh 7, Monty Cooper 6, Jordyn Edwards 18, Mikayla Pivec 11, Sarah Grant 0, Kelsey Rogers 10, Kaprice Boston 0, Taylor Fahey 2, Valerie Bell 0, Abby Yemane 0, Danielle Hayes 6. 3-point goals—Turk 1, Ioane 1, Fiso 1, Walsh 1, Cooper 1, Edwards 3, Hayes 2. Records—West Seattle 22-5 overall. Lynnwood 23-2.
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