The Valley is back on top — or at least the top two — after the Nooksack girls and boys basketball teams won their Class 1A District 1 consolation finals in dominating fashion on Saturday afternoon, Feb. 21, and earned trips to their state tournaments.
In the girls game at Lynden High School, the Pioneers literally ran out to an 18-point first-quarter lead and then ran away from Mount Baker, 62-36. In the boys game, the Pioneers played one of their most complete games of the season in dismantling rival Meridian, 71-43.
With the victories, the Nooksack Valley teams took second place and will join the district champion Lynden Christian girls and boys at state. Their seeding for the state regionals will be announced tomorrow and will determine where, when, and whom the four Whatcom teams play.
“It’s awesome … crazy,” said Nooksack Valley senior Cole Coppinger. “We’ve been playing basketball since kindergarten and always dreamed of going to state. And it’s finally here.”
For the Mount Baker girls and Meridian boys, however, their seasons ended with Saturday’s losses.
Girls: Nooksack Uses Fast Start To Run Over Mount Baker, 62-36
With Mount Baker coming off an emotional, overtime win just 18 hours earlier, the Pioneers’ strategy was simple: Use their well-rested legs to run out to a fast start. And it worked as Nooksack Valley raced to a 23-5 first-quarter lead and never slowed down in beating the Mounties, 62-36.
“It was a great win for them, but it takes a toll,” said Nooksack Valley coach Shane Wichers after his 14-10 team qualified for state for the sixth tournament in a row. “We wanted to play fast and take advantage of that. We got off to a great start. And, obviously, Payton was hot.”
Oh, was she ever. Sharpshooting lefty Payton Bartl once again made Jake Maberry Gymnasium her own Payton Place, scoring a game-high 28 points. She was especially deadly in the first quarter, scoring 15 points and hitting three 3-pointers.
Bartl’s shooting plus exhaustion was too much for the Mounties to overcome.
“To play 36 minutes and turn around and play 18 hours later … we were tired when it started,” said Mount Baker coach Tiffany Ramirez, who team was looking for its first trip to state since its 2017 state championship season.
“Last night … we’ll remember that game for the rest of our lives,” said Mount Baker junior Violet Fox of the Mounties’ loser-out victory over Meridian on a last-second shot. “But we were pretty tired.”
The teams battled for three more quarters, but the outcome was never in doubt as the Pioneers led by 21 at the half and as much as 31 in the fourth quarter.
Besides Bartl’s 28 points on 10 of 15 shooting, senior Grace had 11 points in addition to 23 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals; junior Raegan Burke had 8 points, and senior Chayleigh Davis had 5 assists. The Pioneers also were clutch at the free throw line making eight of 10.
The Mounties were led by Fox, who finished with 15 points. Junior Rebeca Soares, who was double- and triple-teamed whenever she got the ball in the paint, was held to 11 points. Freshman Gabby Nutting had 5 points, but only two other Mounties scored and only managed five points total.
While the loss ended the Mounties’ season at 6-16, its record was deceiving because of five forfeits due to a paperwork snafu over an ineligible player. And both coach and player expressed pride in the team’s growth during the season.
“I told them to be proud,” said Ramirez. “We’re changing the culture.”
Said Fox: “We’re really proud of everything we did this season. This is the furthest I’ve gone. We’ve grown so much. We’re still building the program.”
The foundation is in place as the Mounties only lose two seniors — Reace Brown and Samiya Powell — and after juniors Fox and Soares, have only sophomores and freshmen on the roster.
But while Mount Baker will be looking to next season, the Pioneers will be looking to next weekend and a regional game either Friday or Saturday, Feb. 27 or 28.
“We can go as far as we want,” said Bartl, who along with DeHoog and fellow senior Chayleigh Davis was part of the Pioneers’ state championship teams their freshman and sophomore years. “But you take it every minute at a time.”
Wichers is trying to enjoy the moment, too, knowing the highs of the state championship years and the lows of missing out at state.
“In this conference, there’s no guarantees ever,” he said. “We’ve been in their shoes (the Mounties’). But I think we’re playing our best basketball.”
Nooksack Valley 62, Mount Baker 36
Mount Baker 5 9 9 13—36
Nooksack Valley 23 12 15 12—62
Mount Baker: Kammenga, Brown 4, Soares 11, V. Fox 15, Lopresti 1, Powell, Abitia, Harkness, George, Nutting 5.
Nooksack Valley: Flores 3, Hjort, Bartl 28, Davis 6, Swaffield, Biondolillo 3, Harmon, Newhouse, Freeland-Rivera, Van Liew 3, Burke 8, DeHoog 11.
CLASS 1A GIRLS DISTRICT 1 TOURNAMENT
Wednesday, Feb. 11
Play-in game
Meridian 44, Blaine 34 (loser out)
Friday, Feb. 13
Semifinals
Lynden Christian 66, Meridian 28
Nooksack Valley 56, Mount Baker 47
Tuesday, Feb. 17
At Lynden High
Championship game
Lynden Christian 58, Nooksack Valley 27 (winner first, to state regionals)
Friday, Feb. 20
At Lynden High
Consolation game
Mount Baker 46, Meridian 44 OT (loser out)
Saturday, Feb. 21
At Lynden High School
Consolation final
Nooksack Valley 62, Mount Baker 36 (winner second, to state regionals, loser out)
Boys: Nooksack Finally Returns To State After 71-43 Win Over Trojans
After splitting their two games this season by a total of five points, the third meeting between Meridian and Nooksack Valley figured to be another close one. But not this time as the Pioneers put together perhaps their best game of the season in defeating the Trojans, 71-43.
“It was a complete game for us,” said Nooksack Valley coach Jason Heutink, whose Pioneers improved to 10-14. “We knew we could do it; we just have to do it.”
The Pioneers did it by using their size and depth — not to mention the Trojans’ tired legs after playing Friday night’s loser-out contest — to beat Meridian’s hallmark trapping press and either get to the basket and get open jumpers.
The first quarter was a harbinger of things to come as the Pioneers hit four 3-pointers and the Trojans missed six of seven free throws to fall behind by seven. In the second quarter, the Pioneers made 11 free throws and held Meridian to seven points to go up by 19.
The second half was more of the same as Nooksack stretched the lead to as much as 31. The Pioneers would make eight 3-pointers to the Trojans’ two, and Meridian didn’t help itself by missing 16 free throws.
“We couldn’t get anything out of our press,” said Meridian coach Shane Stacy, whose squad finished the season with a 7-16 record. “Then we missed free throws in the first quarter and that kind of demoralized us.”
Meridian senior Daniel Larsen knew exactly the cause: “We played last night, and they had fresh legs. The energy just wasn’t there.”
It was a team effort on both ends of the court for the Pioneers with the seniors leading the way.
Coppinger had 16 points, 11 of them coming at the free throw line; Jayden Anderson had 15 points with two of his three 3-pointers coming in the first-quarter blitz as well as 10 rebounds, and 4 assists; Crew Bauman had 11 points and three more 3s to go along with 5 rebounds, and 4 steals; and Owen Wichers had 10 points and 4 assists.
Sophomore Treven Scheenstra added 7 points; and junior Dane Ackerman and sophomore Tyler Martin had 5 points each with Ackerman also pulling down 8 rebounds.
“That’s what I love,” said Heutink. “You can’t focus on one guy. You never know when your day is going to happen.”
For Meridian, the lack of easy buckets coming off its normally effective press led to a lack of points. Larsen and junior Pierce Brzozowski had 10 points each, juniors Trey Alexander and Gabe Galbraith had 6 points each; and sophomore Emmett Ashmore came back after taking an elbow and leaving with a bloody nose to score 5 points.
Alexander also had 6 rebounds, and Ashmore and junior L.D. Webster had 3 assists each.
With the Trojans only losing three seniors to graduation — Larsen, Damion Hayes, and Matthew Blankenburg — the future looks bright in Laurel.
“Overall, we did better than our record shows,” said Larsen. “I have great teammates. A lot of teams don’t have that. Our team will come back.”
Stacy praised the seniors but also looked forward to the returnees coming back.
“Our three seniors, what they’ve done and been able to experience is pretty cool,” he said of the veterans who played on Meridian’s past two state teams. “Obviously, not the ending they wanted, but to be able to accomplish what they have is impressive. And now, we have a group (coming back) that is passionate about basketball.”
For Nooksack Valley, however, the future is now — finally. It’s hard to believe with a state tradition as strong as the Pioneers have had that they will be returning to the state tournament for the first time since 2011.
“I’m happy for the kids,” said Heutink, who is part of that great tradition have starred for Nooksack Valley’s 2003 state championship team. “They’ve experienced the other side of it (just missing state the past two years), and especially the seniors, and I’m happy they get a chance to experience it.”
“We had a rough start (to the season), but we always knew we could do it,” said Coppinger. “We finally came together and played as a group.”
Nooksack Valley 71, Meridian 43
Meridian 13 7 8 15—43
Nooksack Valley 20 19 16 16—71
Meridian: Harris, Hayes, Braithwaite, Webster 1, Alexander 6, Blankenburg 5, Jacoby, Galbraith 6, Ashmore 5, P. Brzozowski 10, Larsen 10, Burgess.
Nooksack Valley: Coppinger 16, Bauman 11, E. Anderson, L. Anderson, J. Anderson 15, Wichers 10, Leyerly 2, Martin 5, Scheenstra 7, Silves, Ackerman 5, Mitchell.
CLASS 1A BOYS DISTRICT 1 TOURNAMENT
Wednesday, Feb. 11
Play-in game
Blaine 60, Mount Baker 43 (loser out)
Friday, Feb. 13
Semifinals
Lynden Christian 66, Blaine 54
Nooksack Valley 65, Meridian 61
Tuesday, Feb. 17
At Lynden High
Championship game
Lynden Christian 76, Nooksack Valley 58 (winner first, to state regionals)
Friday, Feb. 20
At Lynden High
Meridian 49, Blaine 42 (loser out)
Saturday, Feb. 21
At Lynden High School
Consolation final
Nooksack Valley 71, Meridian 43 (winner second, to state regionals, loser out)
