The No. 6 Washington Warriors got a big win on the road Friday night (Dec. 10) when they knocked off No. 7 Sioux City North, the 2009 4A state champions, 68-55. Saturday at 3pm they face last year’s 3A champions in Sioux City Heelan.

“It is a good unusual for us right now,” Warriors Coach Frank Howell said of playing recent state champs on back to back nights. “It is a tall order, but I feel really good about the way we played tonight and it shows us what we are capable of doing.”

Howell called this a “first” in his coaching career. “I can’t remember it ever happening before. Or, maybe I don’t want to remember it.”

 “This was big on a lot of levels,” Howell said. ‘We beat a team that historically is one of the best programs in Class 4A and we did it a long ways from home on their floor. They do a lot of things well with their backcourt pressure and the type of game they play with the ability to knock down perimeter shots. We hung tough and really played well throughout the night.”

Jazz Royster had a career-high 25 points to pace the Warrior attack. Alissa Oney chipped in with 10 points. Sioux City North was led in scoring by Josie Jansen with 16, Ashlie Stokes added 13 and Brittni Donaldson had 10. Tia Dawson had eight rebounds and Royster collected six.

Depth has been name of the game for the Warriors this season and Howell praised his squad with several players contributing.

“Our depth is really good. There were times tonight where we had five players on the floor who were not starters, but still were out there playing good basketball and defending and rebounding and running the floor and doing what we asked of them. Everybody answered the bell tonight.”

Sioux City North led 15-14 after the first quarter and then Washington had a big second frame (20-10) to lead 34-25 at the half. The margin was 56-42 at three-quarter time.

Howell was pleased with almost every aspect of his team’s play.

“We played a really good first half, but I knew with their style of play and ability to hit perimeter shots we weren’t going to be safe until the final buzzer. We had to keep scrambling and rotating and identifying shooters to try and get a hand up and rebound. We handled the backcourt pressure and I thought overall we did a pretty good job,” he said.

The Warriors (5-0) are off to a great start on the season after finishing 14-9 overall a year ago. North (4-1) suffered its first loss of the year after posting a 15-9 record in 2009-2010. Just two years ago, Sioux City North beat a talented Cedar Rapids Kennedy squad 78-72 in the semi finals before clipping Ames 51-45 in the championship game at the Iowa Girls State Basketball Tournament. They have been one of the “powers of the west” for several years.

To save money on this weekend’s long road trip, the Washington team shared a bus with Linn-Mar High School players and coaches. The teams flip-flopped with the Lions playing Heelan on Friday night. They play Sioux City North at 1pm on Saturday.

WASHINGTON (68): Jazz Royster 12 0-0 25, Tia Dawson 3 0-0 6, Jordon Pilcher 2 0-0 4, Allisa Oney 4 0-2 10, Ashley Piper 2 0-0 5, Janay Pritchett 2 2-2 7, Gail Barnum 1 0-0 2, Tasha Roundtree 2 0-0 5, Layloni Beard 0 0-1 0, Madison Kramer 1 0-0 2, Brooke Foreman 0 0-0 0, Jordan Carr 0 2-2 2, Kelli Klaus 0 0-0 0. Totals 29 4-7 68.

NORTH (55): Summer Gordon 2 3-8 7, Faythe Pitkin 1 0-0 2, Brittni Donaldson 4 0-0 10, Ashlie Stokes 2 9-12 13, Josee Jansen 5 2-2 16, Madison Lee 1 2-2 5, Devon Piersma 1 0-0 2, Diamond Denney 0 0-0 0, Caitlyn Glidden 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 16-24 55.

Halftime – Washington 34, North 25. 3-point goals — Washington 6 (Oney 2, Piper, Pritchett, Royster,Roundtree), North 6 (Jansen 4, Donaldson 2). Total fouls — Washington 23, North 14. Fouled out — None.