1A Girls Regional: Nooksack’s Season Ends With 43-36 Upset Loss

And suddenly, it was over.

The Nooksack Valley girls basketball team was 90 seconds away from winning its Class 1A state regional, but couldn’t hold off King’s Way Christian and had its season come to end with a 43-36 loss on Saturday, Feb. 28.

The ninth-seeded Pioneers finished 14-11 after being upset by the 16th-seeded Knights in the second game of Saturday’s quadruple-header at Lynden High School.

“It was an abrupt end,” said Grace DeHoog, who along with fellow seniors Payton Bartl and Chayleigh Davis were part of the Nooksack program that had qualified for state all four of their years and won state titles their freshman and sophomore seasons.

“It felt like a family … all four years. I’ll remember how much fun we had, the friends that were really special.”

For coverage of all of our Whatcom teams’ regional games, click on State Regionals.

Nooksack Valley coach Shane Wichers had only praise for the three along with senior Natalie Van Liew, who transferred in her sophomore season.

“The seniors had great careers,” said Wichers. “We told them this game doesn’t define your career or you as a person. It was a great season. They (the whole team) grew a lot. I was really pleased with how the season went.”

Unfortunately, none of the Pioneers were pleased with how Saturday’s game went.

Watch for the Whatcom Hoops state preview on Sunday. For a look at each of our teams and tournament schedules, click on State Preview.

Despite having a huge edge in experience — King’s Way Christian started two eighth-graders and a freshman — Nooksack Valley couldn’t shake off the Knights, who only trailed by four going into the fourth quarter.

But the shots that had fallen for the Pioneers earlier suddenly didn’t and with just over a minute and a half left, the underdog Knights had closed to within 36-35. After a Nooksack turnover, King’s Way sank a 3-pointer to go up by two and it was “upset alert” time.

Nooksack Valley had four chances to tie or take the lead, but all four shots bounced off the rim. King’s Way hit a short jumper to go up by four with 17 seconds left, and after a steal, the Knights made a free throw with seven seconds left to end the game and the Pioneers’ season.

“We felt we had really good shots but didn’t convert,” Wichers said of the game as whole but he could have speaking about the final minute. “Against Baker (in the district consolation final) they went in. Today they didn’t. That’s basketball.”

Bartl finished her career with another exceptional game, hitting five 3-pointers for a team-high 17 points. DeHoog managed 9 points despite being double-teamed, but only three other players scored for a total of 10 points. Van Liew’s lone field goal was the only one not scored by Bartl or DeHoog in the second half.

DeHoog, who will be playing at Eastern Washington University next year, did finish with 19 rebounds; junior Raegan Burke had 5 points and pulled down 4 rebounds as did Bartl; and Davis had a team-high 4 assists. But the Pioneers were hurt by their 24 percent shooting from the field.

It was an historic win — in fact, the only state win — for the school from Vancouver, which has only been in existence since 2006. The Knights had only been to state in 2019 and last year and had lost both their regional games.

The Knights will now go on to play eighth-seeded Lakeside (9 Mile Falls) in another loser-out game on Wednesday at the Yakima Valley SunDome.

King’s Way Christian 43, Nooksack Valley 36

King’s Way Christian 11 8 5 19—43

Nooksack Valley 8 9 11 8—36

King’s Way Christian: Fusco, Ensley, Johnson, Hunter, Christie, Lopez 3, Fernandez, Meyer 9, Diehl 13, Evenson, Bagley 18.

Nooksack Valley: Flores, Hjort, Bartl 17, Davis 2, Biondolillo, Harmon, Van Liew 3, Burke 5, DeHoog 9.

CLASS 1A GIRLS STATE REGIONALS

Friday, Feb. 27

King’s 61, Lakeside 38 (both to state tournament)

Royal 57, Annie Wright 45 (both to state tournament)

Cascade Christian 47, Hoquiam 37 (winner to state tournament, loser out)

Wapato 69, Bear Creek 46 (winner to state tournament, loser out)