PHOTO: Doug Lange
Whatcom County Hoops Hits Yakima
February 28, 2019
The Northwest Conference is looking to shine as the quarterfinal round of the 1A and 2A state basketball tournaments get underway Thursday. Five Whatcom County teams will be in action in the Yakima SunDome. Three of those teams are defending state champs and Three are number 1 seeds this year.
All five squads earned first day byes with regional round victories on Saturday and are now into the double elimination portion of their tournaments. Best of all the Lions, Lyncs and Trojans are all just 3 victories away from winning a state championship.
1A girls
Lynden Christian (21-3) vs. Elma (23-3) 12:15pm - The defending state champion Lyncs will open up the defense of their title in Yakima with a match-up against a team that hasn't placed at state since 2009 in the Elma Eagles.
The 3rd seeded Lyncs advanced to the quarterfinals with a 77-59 victory over Annie Wright in the Regional round. Isabella Hernandez led L.C. with 19 points.
The 5th seeded Eagles advanced by beating Overlake 42-30 Wednesday in a loser out contest at the SunDome. Jalyn Sackrider paced the Elma attack with a double-double of 19 points and 12 rebounds.
Meridian (20-5) vs. Medical Lake (19-6) 2:00pm - The Trojans are back in Yakima after getting knocked out in the opening round last year by Nooksack Valley. They will battle a Medical Lake squad that finished 6th last year.
Meridian, the 7th seed, beat Bellevue Christian 40-26 in the Regionals to advance to the quarterfinals. it was the 7th victory in the last 8 games for the Trojans.
Medical Lake eliminated Kings 49-36 Wednesday to advance. Jaycee Oliver topped the Cardinals in scoring with 14 points and Jessica Lohman turned in a double-double of 11 points and 11 rebounds.
1A boys
Lynden Christian (24-0) vs. Kings (20-5) 5:30pm - The undefeated, defending state champion Lyncs will face a familiar foe as they square off with the Knights in the postseason for the second time in just over two weeks. L.C. beat Kings 70-63 to win the district 1 championship on February 13th.
Lynden Christian advanced to the quarterfinals by thumping Connell 79-53 in the Regionals on Saturday. Senior center Christian Colwell led 5 Lyncs in double-figure scoring with 17 points.
Kings advanced with a 77-40 elimination victory over Deer Lake on Wednesday. Tyler Linhardt scored 22 points for the Knights. Hunter Reeves added 14 points and Eyon Zevenbergen posted a 10 point and 18 rebound double-double.
2A girls
Lynden (21-3) vs. East Valley (Spokane) (20-4) 5:30pm - After placing 6th last year, the Lions are back as the No.1 seed. They will battle the 3rd place finisher from last year and the No. 2 seed this year in the East Valley Knights.
Lynden advanced to the quarterfinals by posting their 11th straight win last Saturday in the Regional round with a 66-45 victory over the defending state champion W.F. West Bearcats. Keylie Hershey & Liv Tjoelker lead Lynden with 13 points each and Blakely Doerge added 12.
East Valley is in the quarterfinals after thrashing Anacortes 61-23. the knights held the Seahawks to just 1 point in the first quarter and 15% shooting for the game. Faith Adams paced East Valley with 15 points and Ellie Stowell had 12.
2A boys
Lynden (23-1) vs. Columbia River (22-3) 10:30am - The top-seeded Lions are chasing a second straight state title. They will have to get past the Chieftains again. Lynden beat Columbia River 44-33 in the quarterfinals last year.
Lynden rolled in the quarterfinals with a 71-34 Regionals win over Franklin Pierce on Saturday. Christian Zamora had 20 points and Clayton Whitman followed with 17 in the win.
2 seed Columbia River, who finished 6th last year, advanced to Thursday's match-up with a 49-37 win over Anacortes Wednesday. Jack Armstrong topped the scoring for the Chieftains with 12 points, while Evan Dirksen totaled a double-double of 11 points and 13 rebounds.
- Doug Lange
