Edmonds-Woodway Girls Return to Form, Blow Past Kamiak

The Edmonds-Woodway girls basketball team returned to the dominating form they have been known for throughout the season, defeating Kamiak 73-33 in a loser-out district playoff game on Saturday afternoon.

E-W trailed for a total of 40 seconds in the game. After taking a 5-3 lead on a three-pointer from Madeline Kasper, they would never again trail.

The Warriors opened the game on a 10-3 run, prompting Kamiak head coach Jody Schauer to call his first timeout only three minutes into the game.

But the Knights did not respond and allowed another 14-3 run by the Warriors to close the first quarter with a commanding 24-6 lead.

Turnovers plagued Kamiak throughout the opening period and the Knights ended the quarter with eight turnovers and just six points.

Edmonds-Woodway head coach Duane Hodges credited his team with buying into the philosophy that they could take over the game with solid help defense against the Knights.

"We do have to play really good team defense," said Hodges.

The Warriors' coach also said he and his team believed they could take over the game with a dominate defensive effort, which is precisely what they did.

Edmonds-Woodway led 42-22 at half, which gave the Warriors nine more points in the first 16 minutes than the Knights would put up in the entire game.

E-W also took control on the offensive glass, with nine of their 24 points coming on second-chance opportunities.

Kamiak head coach Jody Schauer spoke after the game about his team's inability to control the Warriors offensive output.

"They're just a really talented group," Schauer said. "They've got an inside game and an outside game and when they're playing together they are really hard to stop."

Kamiak could never gain a foothold against the collapsing E-W defense and continuously threw up wild shots or lost control of the ball out of bounds or to the Warriors.

Senior Lexi Burns and junior Kate Blackwell both scored seven points to lead the Knights.

Madeline Kasper finished with 17 for the Warriors while Alex Kenney and Sydney Donaldson each added 12.

In addition to her presence on defense (three blocked shots), Hodges credited Donaldson and also Ashley Albertson and Angela Woods with their ability to move the ball to open teammates through the low-post.

"To have some of your best passers as post players is incredibly refreshing," Hodges said. "Those guys understand the game so well."

The Warriors will face the loser of Saturday night's game between Jackson and Lake Stevens on Wednesday, February 18 at Edmonds-Woodway with scheduled tip time of 7:30pm.