After almost two full weeks since their last game action, Edmonds-Woodway Warriors’ coach John Rasmussen was a concerned going into his team’s matchup on Thursday against a 7-1 Sequim squad ranked No. 3 in the WIAA 2A state RPI rankings. But those fears were relieved as his Warriors’ put together a strong winning effort against the Wolves.

E-W handed Sequim just its second loss of the season with a 58-48 victory in the non-league girls basketball contest played at Edmonds-Woodway High School.

Rasmussen was most impressed with his squad’s defensive effort on Thursday against a team that had been averaging 69.5 points per game this year.

“It’s our defense that’s starting to step up,” Rasmussen said. “They’re a good team but we held them to 48 points; that’s the lowest they’ve scored all year I believe. That’s a compliment to our defense.”

Extended breaks between games can be detrimental to a team’s growth and improvement, Rasmussen warned, but the Warriors’ showed no sign of a letdown primarily because of some strenuous practices leading up to Thursday’s game against Sequim.

“The girls have been practicing just unbelievable these last three days,” Rasmussen said. “So I came into this feeling like we didn’t have any days off — it felt really good. The girls have been working hard and their hard work is paying off. So it’s really awesome.”

AJ Martineau, who lead the team with 19 points on Thursday, agreed that the team workouts this week have been valuable. “Our practices these past couple of days have been really strong; I think we’ve worked really hard.”

Martineau was instrumental is holding off any potential late rally by the Wolves. Sequim cut the Warrior lead to just six points three times in the final two minutes, but each time Martineau responded by drawing a foul and converting free throw attempts. In fact, the senior had a perfect shooting performance in the fourth quarter, going 2-for-2 from the field — both three-pointers — and 8-for-8 from the foul line for 14 of her 19 points.

Martineau credited the entire team for playing well down the stretch to earn the victory.

“I think we just stayed really confident; we didn’t get down on ourselves at all. We played really composed. I thought we moved the ball well and we just took really good shots when we needed to,” Martineau said.

Jadyn Waram contributed 12 points to the Warrior win. Sequim was led in scoring by its outstanding freshman center Jayla Julmist, who had 14 points.

With the victory, E-W has now won three games in a row and has evened up its overall season record at 4-4. While the mark is just .500, three of the four losses were to teams that are expected to challenge for state titles in their classifications, 4A powerhouse Lake Stevens and 1A contenders Lynden Christian and Kings.

Martineau called the team’s current run of wins “redemption” for it’s four-game losing streak that started the season  — and evidence that the team is now heading in the right direction.

“I think it just all came together,” she said. “I think the beginning of the season was tough; we had a lot of new starters, new offense, it was just a new dynamic and I think we’re just starting to come into our game and we’ve been playing really well recently.”

Prep Girls Basketball: Sequim at Edmonds-Woodway, Jan. 2

Sequim 15 10 9 14 — 48

Edmonds-Woodway 19 11 6 22 — 58

Edmonds-Woodway individual scoring: AJ Martineau 19, Jadyn Waram 12, Mia Dickenson 8, Maddie McMahon 6, Kaddy Kongira 6, Hazel Mills 2, Brooke Kearney 2, Lilly Frunk 2, Hallie Waram, Melanie Walsh

Sequim individual scoring: Jessica Julmist 14, Kalli Wiker 8, Hannah Bates 8, Hope Glasser 7, LeeAnn Raney 6, Melissa Porter 2, Hannah Wagner 2, Jessica Dietzman 1, 

Records: Edmonds-Woodway 2-0 in 2A/3A Wesco League, 4-4 overall; Sequim 3-0 in 2A Olympic League, 7-2 overall

Edmonds-Woodway next game: versus Oak Harbor; Friday, Jan. 3; 7:15 p.m. at Edmonds-Woodway High School

— By Doug Petrowski