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After steamrolling through the regular season with just three losses in 21 games, the Edmonds-Woodway Warriors are now learning just how challenging the postseason can be.
In the District 1 3A Girls tourney title game on Feb. 21, the Warriors were humbled in a 36-point loss to Snohomish, the team that would then receive the No. 2 seed in the subsequent WIAA 3A State tournament. What would follow for E-W was a matchup against the team that the state tourney seeding committee deemed even stronger than Snohomish, the Bellevue Wolverines.
The Warriors wholeheartedly accepted the challenge of facing the Wolverines Friday, standing toe-to-toe with the State tournament’s No. 1 seed, but eventually ran out of gas in the second half. In the end, Bellevue outlasted the Warriors 63-46 in a WIAA 3A Girls State Basketball Tournament Round 2 game played at Bellevue College.
Although the final score reflected a 17-point differential between the two teams, E-W Coach Quinn Manning didn’t want anyone to categorize her squad’s loss to the Wolverines as a blowout.
“It didn’t feel like that; it didn’t feel like a blowout,” Manning said after the game. “I was proud through and through.”
Manning had a different take following the Warriors’ loss to Snohomish a week before. While she saw some concession in her squad’s effort that night, she said there was no surrender in her team’s play against the Wolverines.
“I just told them that I’m proud of them. They fought,” Manning said. “This is a different team than what you saw last Saturday (against Snohomish).”
Five minutes into Friday’s contest, E-W was up 7-6 after a Finley Wichers 3-pointer, the first of eight for the senior in the game. But the Warrior advantage was short lived as Bellevue then went on a 7-0 run to take a 13-7 lead.
E-W stayed close, down 15-14 after another Wichers’ triple at the 6:44 mark of the second quarter. But Bellevue was able to stretch out its lead to 29-18 at halftime, helped by scoring five points in the final 7.3 seconds of the first half on a Nayvi Robinson hoop and a Iyla Jones 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Down by 11 at the break, E-W was able to close that gap during the third quarter. With 58 seconds remaining in the quarter, another Wichers 3-pointer shortened the Bellevue advantage to just five, 38-33, giving the Warriors hope that a come-from-behind win was still possible.
But the height advantage enjoyed by the Wolverines — and a deeper bench — turned out to be too much for the Warriors to overcome. “We were outmatched in size and strength,” Manning said.
Bellevue outscored E-W, seeded No. 8 in the State tournament, 25-13 over the final 8:58 of the matchup to claim the victory.
The 63 points tallied by the Wolverines was well under their average of 73.3 points scored per game this season, something else that Manning and the Warriors could take pride in after the loss.
“I told the girls before we started the game that no one expects us to win this game, right? Let’s come out swinging; no pressure,” Manning said. “And I want to be in the locker room at the end of the game feeling like we gave it our all. And I do. I feel like the kids on the court showed up, made best efforts. And what more could I ask for?”
Wichers led E-W in scoring with 24 points, all from her eight 3-pointers — the most the senior has ever made during a game in her prep career. Freshman Zaniyah Jones added 16 points in the loss. Only two other Warriors scored in the contest: Audrey Rothmier, off the bench, with four points and Amara Miller with two points.
The lack of scoring from more players was an impediment for the Warriors to pull off the upset. “We needed more even distribution on offense,” Manning said.
Bellevue was led in scoring by the 13 points of Trinity Palmer-Wilson, the 12 points of Jones and the 11 points of Dilynn Johnson. Nine of the 10 Wolverines who played on Friday scored.
Manning said that the loss to the State tourney’s No. 1-seed served as a good warmup and a learning tool for a team that hasn’t been to State since 2019 and for her players — five of them freshmen — who have never gone this deep into the postseason.
“I just told the girls that’s a great launching point for Tacoma. And it’s great prep,” Manning said. “I’m so darn proud of them. We’ve made it really far asking young players to do a lot.”
Next for the Warriors will be a trip to the Tacoma Dome for the final week of the prep hoops season. E-W will face either No. 9 seed Stanwood or No. 17 seed Bishop Blanchet — two teams that the Warriors have defeated earlier this year — in a tournament loser-out contest on Wednesday, March 4. Tipoff is scheduled for 9 p.m.
To view the entire WIAA 3A Girls State Basketball Tournament bracket, click www.wpanetwork.com/m2/tourn.php?act=vt&tid=4961#.
Prep Girls Basketball: Edmonds-Woodway vs. Bellevue, Feb. 27 (WIAA 3A Girls State Basketball Tournament Round 2 game)
Edmonds-Woodway 11 7 15 13 – 46
Bellevue 15 14 12 22 – 63
Edmonds-Woodway individual scoring: Finley Wichers 24, Zaniyah Jones 16, Audrey Rothmier 4, Amara Leckie 2, Sloane Franks, Amelia Faber, Janie Hanson, Madeline Kost
Bellevue individual scoring: Trinity Palmer-Wilson 13, Iyla Jones 12, Dilynn Johnson 11, Syesha Simanton 7, Nayvi Robinson 7, Lucia Mayorquin 6, Lauryn Keilman 4, Savannah Jeannot 2, Parker Rensch 1, Tanna Tsuchikawa
Records: Edmonds-Woodway 20-5 overall: Bellevue 24-3 overall
Edmonds-Woodway next game: versus Stanwood or Bishop Blanchet; Wednesday, March 4; 9 p.m. at the Tacoma Dome (WIAA 3A Girls State Basketball Tournament loser-out game)
Bellevue next game: versus Snohomish, Evergreen, Enumclaw or Meadowdale; Thursday, March 5; 5:30 p.m. at the Tacoma Dome (WIAA 3A Girls State Basketball Tournament quarterfinal game)
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