Warden girls take state tournament first-round win
Warden guard Quinn Erdmann (3), brings the ball up the floor in Saturday’s 61-45 win in the opening round of the WIAA Class 2B state tournament.
Cheryl Schweizer/Columbia Basin Herald
Warden’s Lauryn Madsen (0) beats Adna’s Natalie Loose (12) on her way to the basket in Saturday’s 61-45 Cougar victory in the first game of the WIAA Class B state basketball tournament.
Quinn Erdmann, Warden guard, eyes the court in the Cougars’ 61-45 state tournament win.
Warden’s Lauryn Madsen, front, heads to the basket in Saturday’s state tournament game
A swarming Warden defense helped the Cougars get a 61-45 win in the first round of the state tournament. From left, Molly Sackmann (20), Lauren Chamberlain (32) and Makenna Klitzke block the path of Adna’s Gaby Guard (5).
Waden and Adna players wait for the rebound in Saturday’s 61-45 Warden win.
Warden Coach Josh Madsen, right, exchanges a fist bump with Quinn Erdmann during the closing moments of Saturday’s first-round state playoff game, a Warden win.
ELLENSBURG — The Warden Cougars used defense to take their opening round game in the Class 2B girls WIAA state basketball tournament with a 61-45 win over the Adna High School Pirates Saturday at Ellensburg High School.
Warden is the defending state champion in Class 2B.
Warden trailed briefly early in the game, but had a 15-9 lead at the end of the first quarter and never trailed the rest of the game. Cougars Coach Josh Madsen said it was a good way to start the state tournament.
“I thought we had some early jitters, but then we settled down,” Madsen said. “I think a double-digit win at this round in state – we’re going to take that all day long.”
The game was a matchup between the state tournament’s fourth and fifth seeds.
“When the official seeding came out, we were the four (seed) and they were the five,” Madsen said. “Different polls had them higher than us most of the year, but we knew it would be pretty close.”
Warden took the lead on the strength of some good shooting from outside and a press that Adna had some trouble breaking, at least in the first half. The Pirates kept coming back, and cut Warden’s 10-point lead to five points with about four minutes left in the second quarter. But Warden led by 10, 31-21, at the half.
Adna got within nine points midway through the third quarter, but Warden made some crucial baskets and stretched the lead 48-32 as the fourth quarter began. Adna began having some luck breaking Warden’s press late in the third quarter and into the fourth, but Warden made some baskets and maintained a lead of 12 to 14 points throughout the rest of the game.
Madsen said there were still some things to work on.
“We’ve got to tighten some things up,” he said. “I don’t know what the official count of turnovers was, but it was too high. And then we’ve got to stay loose, but stay sharp. I think that’s the main thing. We had some empty possessions – I feel like we could’ve really stretched the lead, and we allowed them to hang around.”
With the win, Warden receives a bye and will play Thursday against the winner of Wednesday’s game between La Conner and Northwest Christian (Colton).
“There are some really good teams there,” Madsen said. “I think we’re playing well at the right time, and it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.
