Auburn Riverside coach Derek Pegram offered no excuses for his team’s season-ending 58-48 loss in the regional round of the Class 3A state girls basketball playoffs Friday against Edmonds-Woodway at Puyallup High School.
Instead, he said, they were simply “outcoached.”
“Edmonds-Woodway was way better prepared than what we were,” Pegram said. “They came out with a better game plan and executed it really well. The game plan we put together wasn’t working, so we had to mix things up and we had a tough time doing that.”
Much of that related to the effectiveness of the zone defenses both teams utilized. The Warriors (17-10), who advance to play at the Tacoma Dome, had little difficulty finding open shots against the Ravens’ 2-3 scheme.
“They tore up our zone and we’ve been playing it for 25 games,” Pegram said.
No one had more success against Auburn Riverside’s defense than junior guard Missy Peterson, who scored a career-high 33 points. Her 25-foot 3-pointer just before the buzzer gave Edmonds-Woodway a 42-38 halftime lead.
“It’s hard to stop her,” Pegram said. “We tried a couple of different girls on her, but if that kind of player is hitting from the outside like she was she’s really hard to stop because she (can drive) whenever she wants.”
Meanwhile, the Ravens struggled to connect on outside jumpers against the Warriors’ zone. It did not help that standout junior point guard McKenzi Williams, who was limited to 12 points, was hampered by a hamstring injury she suffered Feb. 20 in the West Central/Southwest bi-district championship game loss against Lincoln.
“I couldn’t play to my full ability,” said Williams, who estimated she was about 60 percent of her normal strength. “(But) it’s not as important as the game.”
Pegram also adjusted Auburn Riverside’s rotation to accommodate the return of sophomore guard Taylor Smith, who missed the previous 13 games with a knee injury.
“I don’t think it was anything we didn’t do,” he said. “I think it was everything they did. They played phenomenal.”
That could describe the play of the Ravens, who finished 22-2, most of the season. Auburn Riverside advanced to state for the first time since 2011, when the Ravens also were eliminated by the Warriors during the first round.
And Auburn Riverside only graduates one player: forward Kiana Drumheller.
“Undoubtedly,” said Williams, when asked if the outcome will motivate her more for her senior season. “Next year, I will come out a monster.”
For now, Pegram said this season was a success even with the team’s playoff struggles.
“We had a great year,” he said. “We did something that only one other team at Riverside has ever done and that’s go undefeated throughout the regular season. I’m proud of these girls.”
