By Ian Waldron

The Edmonds-Woodway girls basketball team kept Warrior fans on the edge of their seats Monday night as they handed Marysville-Pilchuck its third loss of the season in a 65-60 overtime battle.

M-P’s Morgan Martinez was on fire from the get-go, as she connected on her first three attempts from beyond the arc for the Tomahawks. Martinez would finish the night with 14 points and was 4-6 from 3-point range.

But Martinez’s hot shooting would not be enough to overcome Sydney Donaldson’s all-around stellar performance, as she scored 21 points for the Warriors.

The Warriors trailed for most of the first half, and fell behind 31-24 with only seconds remaining in the second quarter, but Madeline Kasper drained a three-pointer as the buzzer sounded and gave Edmonds-Woodway some much-needed momentum.

“Martinez didn’t do anything particularly great to get open, we just left her open and she can drill the threes,” said head coach Duane Hodges. “Once we decided we were going to play just a simplified defense, we were able to guard people.”

Ashley Albertson converted on a three-point play early in the second half and gave the Warriors a 32-31 lead. Great defense and rebounding, including two clutch blocks by Donaldson, helped keep the Tomahawks to just four points in the third quarter.

Amia Nash missed a deep three-pointer that would have given the Warriors the victory as time ran out, and the teams entered overtime tied at 56.

Andi Adams drilled a three-pointer on the Tomahawks’ first possession in overtime, but Donaldson converted on a three-point play to tie the game back up at 59.

“I just tried to clear my head at the free-throw line and act like it was any other shot,” Donaldson said. “It didn’t really occur to me that we were in overtime or that it was going to tie up the game, I just tried to knock down the shot.”

After another beautiful post move by Donaldson, a turnover by the Tomahawks and a lay-up by Kasper, the Warriors found themselves leading 63-59 with just 47 seconds left.

Fittingly, Donaldson was fouled with less than 25 seconds left and connected on both free throw attempts to put the Warriors up 65-59 and seal the victory.

Edmonds-Woodway (now 7-0 league, 11-3 overall) travels to Arlington (3-5, 7-5) Wednesday night for a 7:30 p.m. start.

E-W scoring: Alex Kenney 6, Sydney Donaldson 21, Amia Nash 2, Seyi Olajoyegbe 2, Ashley Albertson 12, Angela Woods 12, Madeline Kasper 10, Falanika Tuuamalemalo 0

Ian Waldron is a 2006 graduate of Edmonds-Woodway High School.