SNOHOMISH — Round one of the Glacier Peak-Lynnwood 2016 series went to the Royals.
Fortunately for the Grizzlies and Lynnwood — and basketball fans in the Pacific Northwest — there will be at least one, and possibly two or even three more rounds in the coming months.
The Royals jumped to an early lead and held on despite a late barrage of 3-pointers from the Grizzlies, to defeat Glacier Peak 60-54 in a Wesco 3A South game Wednesday night at Glacier Peak High School.
The win keeps Lynnwood (5-0 league, 12-0 overall) undefeated this season.
“All of the tournaments we play in the offseason and (the non-league games) are for this type of a game: playing on the road against a great team,” said Lynnwood head coach Everett Edwards. “We knew it was going to be a dog fight. We knew that Glacier Peak was going to be ready to play. It’s probably going to work out where we see them two, maybe three — maybe four — times again this year.
“We won round No. 1 and I’m sure they’re going to do what they do and be ready to play at Lynnwood in a couple of weeks.”
Glacier Peak (4-1, 10-3) and the Royals have become known for good matchups in recent years. Last year, Lynnwood won the season series 2-1 after a 48-42 victory over the Grizzlies in the 3A District 1 title game.
“They’re a great team,” said Glacier Peak head coach Brian Hill. “It’s the closest game they’ve had all year. We’ll keep our heads high. We’ll learn from it and be ready to go again. We’ll just go back to the drawing board and see what worked and what didn’t work.”
Both teams’ offenses came out on fire in the first half, with Lynnwood shooting 18 of 26 from the field (69 percent) and Glacier Peak (12 of 22) shooting 55 percent.
The Royals, who led 40-28 at halftime, and Grizzlies cooled off in the third quarter, with each team putting up eight points apiece. Glacier Peak started the fourth with a 5-0 run to get within seven, 48-41, but couldn’t pull any closer until a string of three 3-pointers late in the game.
“I thought they had shot themselves out in the first half,” Edwards said. “I said, ‘They probably can’t shoot it as well in the second half,’ and I think they probably did. Especially, in the final minutes. They’re a clutch team. They’ve got great coaching. They run 20 million sets and, defensively, we had to figure out the best way (to slow them down).”
Hill preferred the defensive battle of the third quarter, which is the usual pace when Glacier Peak and Lynnwood get together.
“We gave up 40 points in the first half and 20 in the second half. We had to do something different. We should have changed earlier,” Hill said with a laugh. “… I think the best overall, quarter might have been the third. Both teams were 8-8. There was great defense on both sides and nobody could score.”
Lynnwood senior Mikayla Pivec led all scorers with 18 points and added 11 rebounds for the Royals. Pivec, who has signed with Oregon State, was all over the court, playing in the post as well as bringing the ball down the court on a couple possessions for Lynnwood.
“She plays with the title of post position, but she is, in essence, a guard,” Edwards said. “She can play point guard for us. She is just a flexible player and can play anywhere from the point to the wing, from the high post to the low post. Wherever we feel like we have an advantage we’re going to put Mikayla there. She’s just a great all-around player.”
Junior Kelsey Rogers scored 12 points and had six rebounds and Kaprice Boston added 12 points and eight rebounds. Edwards called Boston the “x-factor” in the game.
“She’s been under the weather the last couple of days and I don’t think she’s feeling 100 percent,” Edwards said. “I think that she gave great effort and hustle on both ends of the court and did the little things: going after loose balls, creating turnovers and I think she was really the X-factor for us tonight.”
Paisley Johnson, a junior guard, led Glacier Peak with 17 points — nine of which came on 3-pointers. Fellow junior Samantha Fatkin added three more 3-pointers for the Grizzlies — who finished with 10 as a team — and 15 points and Kayla Watkins scored 11.
“We’re getting better as a team and hopefully this isn’t our best basketball,” Hill said. “Hopefully, we’ll be playing our best basketball in February and into March.”
Lynnwood was the new top-ranked 3A team in the latest Associated Press poll released Wednesday afternoon, jumping ahead of previous-No. 1 Bellevue by one point.
Glacier Peak moved up a spot to No. 9.
And both top 10 teams appear eager to meet up again in Lynnwood on Feb. 5 for another showdown.
“That’s what makes this rivalry so fun: we both compete at a really high level for an entire game,” Hill said. “Even when they jumped ahead — their biggest lead was 14 — we held our composure and we kept battling back. We’re doing all right.
“It’s a great game for us. I hope it’s a good game for them and I’m looking forward to the next one.”
At Glacier Peak H.S.
Lynnwood 20 20 8 12 —60
Glacier Peak 16 12 8 18 —54
Lynnwood—Abi Yemane 2, Reilly Walsh 9, Rachel Walsh 0, Jordyn Edwards 7, Mikayla Pivec 18, Kelsey Rogers 12, Kaprice Boston 12, Taylor Fahey 0. Glacier Peak—Paisley Johnson 17, Samantha Fatkin 15, Charlie Sevenants 3, Kayla Watkins 11, Natalie Rasmussen 8, Maya McFadden 0, Abbie Juozapaitis 0. Records—Lynnwood 5-0 league, 12-0 overall. Glacier Peak 4-1, 10-3.
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