Tuesday’s 3A District 1 semi-final game between Lynnwood and Edmonds-Woodway looked to be an easy victory for the Royals. After all, Lynnwood beat the Warrior girls twice in the regular season by an average margin of 30 points.

Lynnwood did win the game 67-51, but had to come back from a 19-12 first- quarter deficit to take the game and advance to the District Finals. The win assures the Royals of a berth in the regional round of the state tournament.

Lynnwood coach Everett Edwards found himself trailing after the first quarter, something he’s not accustomed to. “Yeah I was nervous, very nervous. Woodway was shooting the ball and getting open shots. They want to win just as bad as we do. They have four or five seniors who wanted to win this game. ”

Warrior Coach Rebekah Wells talked about being ahead after one quarter,” I was excited, but I was more excited at the end of the third quarter when we were still in the game.”

E-W increased the margin to nine to start the second period, but Lynnwood scored the next 13 points to go ahead for the first time in the game. Mikayla Pivec scored seven of the points and Danielle Hayes finished off the spurt with a 3-pointer. Mady Burdett finally stopped the flow with a three from the right corner.  Burdett picked up her third foul of the half shortly after and be forced to the bench for the rest of the half. The Royals would go up my as much as five, but E-W  closed the gap to three as the teams headed to the locker room for the break.

In the first, the Warriors scoring was evenly distributed between Burdett, Natalie Kasper, Missy Peterson and Moni Jackson. After the break, Jackson — the second leading scorer in Wesco — would not score another point.

“We paid more attention to Simone (Moni) and made somebody else try and beat us,” said Edwards.

As has been the norm,  Pivec — Wesco’s top scorer — led the Royals during the first half, with 11, followed by Reilly Walsh with 5.

Burdett opened the third quarter with a three pointer for E-W to tie the game at 31, but Lynnwood began to gradually pull away, going on an 11-2 run to increase the lead to nine.   Sophomore Reilly Walsh would lead the charge for Lynnwood scoring 8 of the 11 points for the Royals. The Warriors would stay close for the rest of the quarter, but still trailed by 11 after three.

The fourth quarter belonged to the Royals and center Kelsey Rogers. Rogers, a 6-1 sophomore, scored 10 of her 16 points and took advantage of all the attention being paid to Pivec.

” Our team, no matter who scores the points, there is no jealousy,” Rogers said. “It was very slow in the first half. In the second half we were looking more inside. We played better team ball in the second half. ”

Added Coach Edwards: “Kelsey is a strong kid and she’s only going to get stronger. I know Mikayla gets the limelight, but we really have a great ‘team.’ We just don’t have just one or two players”

Peterson, the Warriors’ sophomore forward, tried hard to keep the Warriors in the game, but it just wasn’t enough. “Missy stepped up and made some shots and made some plays to keep us in the game, ” said Wells.

In the end, the Royals did what they had done in the two previous meetings. Won the game. Wells, despite the loss, felt good about her team, ” We expect to compete with these teams. I need them to expect to win these games. Back to the gym tomorrow.”

Rogers and Pivec shared game-high honors for the Royals with 16 apiece, followed closely by Walsh’s 15. Peterson would match the Royals’ duo with 16 herself. Burdett added 11 for E-W.

The Warriors will travel to Ferndale to face the Golden Eagles Thursday. The winner of that game plays Saturday for the third berth in the state regionals.

Lynnwood, meanwhile, plays Glacier Peak for the District title and the number-one state seed Saturday at 6 p.m. “GP is a great rivalry and we’d love to win the series,” said Edwards.

Warriors 19   9   9 14 51

Royals     12 19 17 19 67

E-W:   Wooley 3, Burdett 11, Kasper 9, Fyfe 6, Jackson 6, Peterson 16

Lynn: Walsh 15, Cooper 4, Edwards 11, Pivec 16, Rogers 16, Boston 2, Hayes 6

— By Jeff Smarr