It was a dark night for Whatcom County basketball teams as only one of four — the Squalicum girls — survived the Class 2A consolation rounds on Monday, Feb. 16.
The Storm avoided elimination by defeating Lakewood, 56-42, in a loser-out contest at Lynden High School. The victory improved Squalicum’s record to 19-4 and advanced the Storm into the consolation final on Wednesday.
There would be no consolation for the Squalicum boys and the Sehome boys and girls, all of whom had their seasons end in loser-out games.
In Monday’s other girls game at Lynden, Sehome was upset by Anacortes, 55-50. Meanwhile at Mount Vernon High School, the Sehome boys lost at the buzzer to Burlington-Edison, 62-60, and the Squalicum boys couldn’t pull off the upset, losing to Lakewood, 56-42.
The District 1 tournaments will finish up with championship games on Thursday. The Lynden girls and Archbishop Murphy squaring off at 5:30 p.m. followed by the Lynden boys and Anacortes at 7:15 p.m. Those four have already qualified for the state regionals.
Squalicum Girls Rebound To Defeat Lakewood, 56-42
The seventh-ranked Storm bounced back from Saturday’s disappointing loss in the semifinals to take command early on Monday and hold off Lakewood, 56-42.
Squalicum, which had beaten Lakewood by only four points in their December regular-season game, went up by eight in the first quarter and steadily pulled away.
“We played well defensively on their three guards and limited their 3-pointers and transition offense,” said Squalicum coach Caden Mee after his defenders held the Cougars to single digits in each of the first three quarters.
A big reason was the play of post players who dominated the boards both offensively and defensively. Freshman Avery Kettman would finish with 15 points and 7 rebounds; junior Addison Kettman had 5 points, 10 rebounds, 5 steals, and 3 assists; and reserve Jazmin Singh-Sanchez added 5 points.
“Avery, Jaz, and Adds all did well in the post being strong and rebounding both ways,” said Mee, who also praised the team’s littlest player — 5-foot-4 guard Peyton Horst — who came off the bench to play valuable minutes.
Junior guards Lexi Robbins and Cole Harper would finish with 11 and 5 points, respectively, as eight different Storm players got in the scoring column. Robbins also had three of Squalicum’s five 3-pointers and 7 assists, and senior Jolie Paz added 7 rebounds.
Monday’s win was the first of three steps the Storm needed to climb to earn a state berth for the first time since 2010. They will face Anacortes on Wednesday at 5:40 p.m. at Mount Vernon High School with the winner taking third place in the district.
Then, for the first time, District 1’s third-place finisher will play a crossover contest with the third-place finisher from District 5 — the Ellensburg/Yakima Valley region. The winner of that game, which would be hosted by the District 1 girls team on Saturday, would earn a spot in the state regionals.
“We still have things we need to improve, but we’re taking it one game at a time,” said Mee. “We’ll have a great practice tomorrow and get ready for Anacortes. I’m excited to see these girls rise to the occasion and make a legacy for themselves.”
Lakewood finished its season with a 15-9 record.
Squalicum 56, Lakewood 42
Lakewood 7 10 9 16—42
Squalicum 15 15 14 12—56
Lakewood: Lewis 12, Stewart 16, Baar, Champion, Escalante 7, Riveira 5, Abell, Hardwick 2.
Squalicum: Cecka, Av. Kettman 15, Paz 7, Horst 3, Singh-Sanchez 5, Thompson 5, Robbins 11, Harper 5, Ad. Kettman 5.
Sehome Girls Fall In Final Minute To Anacortes, 55-50
The Mariners were tied in the last 45 seconds, but it was the underdog Seahawks who came up with the big plays to earn the 55-50 upset.
With the score tied at 48-all, Burlington scored with 38 seconds remaining then hit five of six free throws while Sehome could only come up with one bucket and three turnovers to close out their season.
“We struggled defensively, their kids hit shots like a playoff team, and we couldn’t match them,” said Sehome coach Kim Stensgar, whose 11th-ranked team would finish the season at 16-8, while the 35th-ranked Seahawks improved to 9-13.
Up until the the final quarter, it was a tight, defensive struggle unlike the two teams’ first meeting, which the Mariners won going away, 56-41. This time the two squads waited until the fourth quarter to get going offensively, with Anacortes outscoring Sehome, 23-19, in the final period.
Junior Kate Schroeder led the Mariners with 23 points and fueled the big fourth quarter with 10 points. She had all of Sehome’s three 3-pointers, two coming in the final period, and made six of her seven free throws.
The free throw line was good to the Mariners, who made 12 of17, but the Seahawks were even better, especially in the clutch, making 20 of 28 from the line, including 13 in the fourth quarter.
“We still have lots to learn about post-season play,” said Stensgar. “Give all credit to Anacortes in how they competed. It feels like we beat ourselves, unfortunately.”
Nobody else was in double figures for the Mariners, but senior Aspen Barge and junior Elyse Panagos had 8 points each, and sophomore Taylor Turrell added 5 points.
Six seniors played their final game for the Mariners — Barge, Gwen Gates, Isabel Ewing, Nora Kingsley, Lily Jude, and Keira Reeves.
Anacortes 55, Sehome 50
Anacortes 8 14 10 23—55
Sehome 13 7 11 19—50
Anacortes: Ward, Olson 8, Michael 14, Bowman 2, Davis 16, A. Nigro 10, Rowell 5, Swapp.
Sehome: Gates, Gustafson 5, Turrell 5, Panagos 8, Hogan, Barge 8, Schroeder 23, Ke. Reeves 2.
CLASS 2A GIRLS DISTRICT 1 TOURNAMENT
Tuesday, Feb. 10
Play-in game
Bellingham 70, Marysville-Pilchuck 26 (loser out)
Thursday, Feb. 12
Quarterfinals
Lynden 67, Bellingham 13
Archbishop Murphy 76, Anacortes 18
Squalicum 56, Burlington-Edison 44
Sehome, 53, Lakewood 40
Saturday, Feb. 14
At Mount Vernon
Consolation games
Anacortes 53, Burlington-Edison 48 (loser out)
Lakewood 51, Bellingham 38 (loser out)
Semifinals
At Mount Vernon
Archbishop Murphy 62, Squalicum 25
Lynden 64, Sehome 20
Monday, Feb. 16
Consolation games
At Lynden
Anacortes 55, Sehome 50 (loser out)
Squalicum 56, Lakewood 42 (loser out)
Wednesday, Feb. 18
At Mount Vernon
Consolation final
Squalicum vs. Anacortes, 5:30 p.m. (winner third, to District 1/5 crossover, loser out)
Thursday, Feb. 19
At Mount Vernon
Championship game
Lynden vs. Archbishop Murphy, 5:30 p.m. (winner first, loser second, both to state regionals)
Sehome Boys Lose Heart-Breaker At Buzzer, 62-60
The Mariners knew it would be a close one with Burlington-Edison since both came into the game with the same record and only five points separated them in their regular-season contest. But they didn’t think it would be this close — and this heart-breaking.
Sehome rallied from a 19-point deficit to tie the game and have the ball with a chance to win with eight seconds left. But a Burlington steal and breakaway layup at the buzzer proved to be the difference as the Tigers eliminated Sehome, 62-60.
Sehome came in ninth-ranked in the state and seeded third in the district tournament but the only difference between the two 15-7 teams was Sehome’s 69-64 victory 10 days earlier.
This time, the 18th-ranked and fifth-seeded Tigers jumped out to a 17-point halftime lead and were up 47-28 in the third quarter before the Mariners staged an incredible comeback.
Sparked by senior Xavier Kelley, the Mariners closed the gap to nine points thanks to senior Alex Miller’s 3-pointer at the third-quarter buzzer. Kelley then hit two 3-pointers and 12 points in the fourth period as Sehome finally tied the game on senior Klay Jackson’s 3-pointer with 39 seconds left.
After a Burlington shot-clock violation, Sehome had a chance to pull off the miracle comeback, but Kelley was stripped of the ball by Burlington star Logan Heigert, who went the length of the floor and laid the ball in just before the buzzer, ending the Mariners’ season.
“We did not play well at all in the first half and they were on fire,” said Sehome coach Brad Jackson, whose squad finished the season with a 15-7 record. “We battled like our kids did all year and got to tie the game. I felt terrible for Xavier because without his outstanding performance, we would not have been in that position.”
You certainly can’t blame Kelley, who provided most of the Mariners’ offense with 32 points. He hit three of Sehome’s seven 3-pointers and was six of seven from the line.
Senior Nolan Wright added 9 points and junior Quincy Tanovan had 5 points but no other Mariner had more than four points.
Unfortunately, the Mariners had a hard time stopping Heigert, the Tigers’ 6-foot-7 scoring machine. He had 34 points, made four 3-pointers, and was eight of nine from the line.
“It’s always tough to lose a game, but in my opinion, our guys got the very most out of their ability,” said Jackson. “We were overmatched in a lot of games this year, but they just always fought. Obviously, once you get in to the playoffs, anything can happen. For us, it just wasn’t good.”
It was the final game for seven Mariners — Wright, Jackson, Kelley, Miller, Cole Turrell, Carter Duckworth, and Laki Fagaautau.
Burlington-Edison 62, Sehome 60
Burlington-Edison 17 19 14 12—62
Sehome 15 13 13 19—60
Burlington-Edison: Whitlock 14, Heigert 34, Arendse 7, Booth 2, Belisle 3, Fleshman 3.
Sehome: Wright 9, Jackson 3, Tanovan 5, Fagaautau 2, Kelley 32, Miller 3, Duckworth 4, Turrell 2.
Squalicum Boys Can’t Keep Up With Lakewood In 55-41 Loss
The Storm led 1-0 but it was short-lived as the Cougars scored the next eight points to take a lead they’d never relinquish on the way to a 55-41 victory Monday that ended Squalicum’s season.
After trailing by double digits in the first half, Squalicum closed to within five early in the third quarter. But Lakewood put together an 18-4 run to go up by 19 and was never threatened the rest of the way. The big difference turned out to be 3-pointers as the Cougars hit nine and the Storm only managed three.
“We just didn’t shoot the ball well as a team and the turnovers really hurt us,” said Squalicum coach David Dunham.
The juniors again led the way for Squalicum. Orion Granberg-Kiddle had 14 points, Blake Elston had 11, and Hunter Calloway had 10 but only two other Storm players scored and only totaled six points.
“Hunter an Orion both had doubles (scoring and rebounding) for us,” said Dunham. “We needed them to step up and they did.”
The loss finished off a 10-12 season for Squalicum, which saw three seniors play their final game for the Storm — Rhys Knowlton, Harvey Tetrick, and Ansen Asbjornsen.
“The season as a whole was good,” said Dunham. “We are a team still searching for our identity. We will continue to work hard and grow.”
Lakewood improved to 15-7-1 and will play Burlington-Edison on Wednesday for third place.
Lakewood 55, Squalicum 41
Squalicum 8 7 6 20—41
Lakewood 14 8 18 15—55
Squalicum: Knowlton 2, Calloway 10, Thompson, Tetrick 4, Elston 11, Col. Le, Cod. Le, Granberg-Kiddle 14, Asbjornsen.
Lakewood: Willson 16, Egger 12, Langum 15, Kirkpatrick, Hoekendorf, Nyamache, Tapia-MaciasLang, Greenland 10, Haines 2.
CLASS 2A BOYS DISTRICT 1 TOURNAMENT
Monday, Feb. 9
Play-in game
Bellingham 66, Marysville-Pilchuck 59 (loser out)
Wednesday, Feb. 11
Quarterfinals
Lynden 87, Bellingham 61
Anacortes 62, Squalicum 59
Sehome 60, Archbishop Murphy 45
Lakewood 68, Burlington-Edison 56
Friday, Feb. 13
Consolation games
Squalicum 54, Archbishop Murphy 50 (loser out)
Burlington-Edison 69, Bellingham 64 (loser out)
Semifinals
At Mount Vernon
Anacortes 66, Sehome 57
Lynden 61, Lakewood 46
Monday, Feb. 16
Consolation games
At Mount Vernon
Lakewood 55, Squalicum 41 (loser out)
Burlington-Edison 62, Sehome 60 (loser out)
Wednesday, Feb. 18
At Mount Vernon
Consolation final
Lakewood vs. Burlington-Edison, 7:30 p.m. (winner to District 1/5 crossover, loser out)
Thursday, Feb. 19
At Mount Vernon
Championship game
Lynden vs. Anacortes, 7:30 p.m. (winner first, loser second, both to state regionals)
