The Washington girls weren’t perfect at home Saturday afternoon against Marshalltown.

They did miss nine free throws, after all.

And once, when Warrior Coach Frank Howell called a play from the bench to go “odd right,” wispy senior point guard Colby Bjornsen went the other way.

“That’s left,” Howell hollered, as if it really mattered.

By then, the first half was coming to a close with Washington ahead 28-11 and no one in the gym gave the visiting Bobcats a prayer of getting back in the game.

With second and even third-team subs from both teams seeing considerable mop-up action from there on,  the Warriors sealed the non-conference skirmish going away, 57-30.

With back-to-back wins over the weekend, Washington (ranked No. 8 in Class 5A) stands at 12-3 and is all but assured to have a bye when post-season tournament pairings are announced on Monday.

"We came away very happy,” said Howell on the day after his team won at Cedar Falls, 64-51.

“We wanted to come out of the weekend with a couple of victories. And we got that.

“And I thought today we played strong both on defense and in rebounding.”

Marshalltown Coach Tim Johnson, whose Bobcats (3-14) play in the rugged Central Iowa Metropolitan League (CIML), said his girls were sort of shell-shocked when the game began.

“We knew Washington was going to press. They’ve done that against us year after year. But we just didn’t handle it very well,” he said.

Indeed, his skittish team turned the ball over the first six times it touched the ball and went a full three minutes before getting off its first shot.

The Warriors were off to an 11-0 start after a couple of more lost balls, a blocked shot and an offensive foul.

“We really locked them down right from the start,” said Washington’s Aleena Hobbs, who had eight first-quarter points and led all scorers with 16.

“We had a lot of stops and a lot of good team steals. That really helped us get going on offense.”

The Bobcats did cut the lead to five with a six-point flurry toward the end of the first period, but that was close as they would come.

“We were bothered by the press,” Johnson said. "And we missed some easy buckets. Then we just went stagnant. And they took off.”

The Warriors opened the second half much the same as the first, stealing the ball and racing down the court for layups.

They held Marshalltown to a single basket in the third quarter and put up 16 of their own to stretch the lead to 44-13.  By that time, the contest had turned into a scrimmage with reserves cleared from both benches.

Washington senior post player Abby Herb, who turned in her usual hard-nosed game on both ends of the floor, felt the one-sided match provided a good tune-up as the season slides into the stretch run.

“Our defense today was just amazing,” she said.  “A game like this helps us work out the kinks an defense and on offense. It gets us ready for the post-season.”

MARSHALLTOWN (30): Amanda Hughes 0 0-0 0, Samantha Hughes 2 0-0 6, Eisha Oden 4 0-1 8, Rachel Blagg 1 1-4 3, Lauren Mazour 1 2-4 4, Ellyn Boland 1 0-0 3, Lexi Vaughn 1 0-0 2, Jordan Simbides 0 0-0 0, Taylor Wagner 1 0-0 2, Emily Rebik 0 2-2 2, Kali Banks 0 0-0 0, Shelby Brennecke 0 0-0 0. Totals 11 5-11 30.

WASHINGTON (57): Abby Herb 4 0-2 8, Aleena Hobbs 5 6-6 16, Colby Bjornsen 1 0-0 3, Madison Kramer 1 4-4 6, Dani Franklin 4 3-4 12, Sophie Malcolm 0 2-2 2, Devin Glenski 0 0-0 0, Aalyiah Campbell 0 0-0 0, Kiki West-Doyle 0 0-0 0, MJ Kamin 0 0-0 0, McKenna Angellotti 0 2-2 2, Sophie Ochs 0 0-0 0, Callie Cook 2 0-2 4, Kandis O’Donnell 1 2-6 4. Totals 18 19-28 57.

Halftime – Washington 28, Marshalltown 11. 3-point goals – Marshalltown 3 (S. Hughes 2, Boland), Washington 2 (Bjornsen, Franklin). Total fouls – Marshalltown 20, Washington 12. Fouled out – none. Technical foul – Marshalltown Coach Tim Johnson.