The Sehome Mariners made it a clean sweep of the annual BellingHome Battle by winning the girls game, boys game, and spirit award on Thursday night, Jan. 29, but it wasn’t easy getting past rival Bellingham.
The Sehome girls needed a big third quarter to finally shake off the stubborn Bayhawks, 41-24, in the evening’s first game. The victory raised the Mariners’ overall record to 14-5 and their Northwest Conference mark to 10-3. Bellingham, meanwhile, fell to 9-9 overall and 4-7 in conference play.
In the nightcap, the Sehome boys scored the final 10 points to escape with a 65-55 victory in a contest that was tied with three minutes left. The win improved the Mariners’ overall mark to 12-6 and NWC record to 9-4, while Bellingham dropped to 7-11 overall and 3-10 in league.
The spirit competition was just as close with the Sehome student body edging Bellingham for the first time since 2019. In addition to student games, a combined cheer staff performance, and a dance team number, the two schools raised funds and awareness to fight cancer as part of the annual Coaches vs. Cancer program.
“BellingHome is amazing,” said Bellingham senior Mary Lockhart. “Having a game like this with everyone cheering for you and behind you — it’s the best feeling ever.”
Girls: Sehome Shuts Down Bayhawks, 41-24
The favored Mariners were behind after one quarter and needed a 3-pointer by sophomore Taylor Turrell just before intermission to give them some breathing room. But when they came out for the third quarter, they were breathing fire especially on defense.
“We refocused at halftime,” said coach Kim Stensgar after her Mariners outscored Bellingham, 14-2, in the third period to take a 20-point lead and finish off the 41-24 victory. “Our goal was to keep them under 30. When we do that, we should be able to win.”
Sehome’s strategy was pretty simple: double and even triple-team Bellingham’s leading scorers, Lockhart and junior Merritt Jensen, and force the rest of the Bayhawks to beat the Mariners. Although Lockhart and Jensen battled inside for 12 and 10 points, respectively, the rest of the team only managed two points.
“Our posts were battling, but they had to go through three people,” said Bellingham coach Drew McFall of Lockhart and Jensen. “They leave it all out there. When we get outside shooting, we can be dynamic. But today we couldn’t.”
While the Bayhawks were having trouble coming up with points — Thursday’s total was their lowest of the season — especially from anyone besides their stars, the Mariners were using their depth both on offense and defense.
Turrell led Sehome with 16 points, 14 of them and both her 3-pointers coming in the second and third periods when the Mariners outscored Bellingham, 25-4. Eight other Mariners scored with juniors Sadie Gustafson and Kate Schroeder each collecting 5 points and a 3-pointer. Schroeder added 7 rebounds and 5 steals, and senior Aspen Barge had 6 blocks.
“We love the energy when everybody shows up,” Turrell said of the BellingHome atmosphere, where the student bodies filled the stands and never sat down or stopped cheering. “We weren’t shooting as well as we wanted to, and we couldn’t stop Mary. But we calmed down (in the second half).”
As exciting as the game was, both teams know there is still work to do with only one more week before the playoffs start the second week in February.
Bellingham wraps up the regular season with a non-league home game against Blaine on Tuesday and has the first game of a girls-boys doubleheader the following Friday at home with Meridian. After Thursday’s game, the Bayhawks are sixth in the District 1 RPI.
“That was fun,” said McFall, who participated in BellingHome Battles as a Bellingham player. “We competed … but our shots just weren’t going down. The season has been good so far, but we can accomplish a lot more.”
Sehome also concludes its regular-season schedule next week, hosting Squalicum in the first game of a girls-boys doubleheader on Wednesday and visiting Burlington-Edison the following Friday. As of now, Sehome is fourth in the District 1 RPI and Squalicum is third.
“We will celebrate tonight, and tomorrow get ready for Squalicum,” said Turrell. “We have to lock in next week. We’re excited for Squalicum.”
Sehome 41, Bellingham 24
Bellingham 11 2 2 9—24
Sehome 10 11 14 6—41
Bellingham: E. Holland, Ask, Borchert, L. Holland 2, Rogers, Lockhart 12, Jensen 10, Ashlock.
Sehome: Gates 3, Gustafson 5, Turrell 16, Panagos 2, Ka. Reeves, Barge 3, Hogan, Schroeder 5, Kingsley 2, Jude 3, Ke. Reeves 2.
Boys: Mariners Finish Off Bellingham, 65-55
For 29 minutes, the two city rivals battled back and forth, and when Bellingham junior Calvin Van Hofwegen hit a floater in the key with three minutes to go, the score was tied at 55. Unfortunately for the Bayhawks, the last three minutes belonged to the Mariners, who scored the last 10 points in their 65-55 victory.
“Sehome did what they wanted to do late, and we didn’t,” said Bellingham coach Brad McKay. “We played hard and handled all the noise and the crowd. They just made more plays down the stretch.”
The Mariners got the lead back after senior Xavier Kelley sank a free throw and senior Nolan Wright hit a huge 3-pointer with 2:20 left. But after missing two shots, the Bayhawks were forced to foul in the final minute and seniors Klay Jackson, Carter Duckworth, and Wright sank two free throws each to finish the scoring.
“We knew it would be a dogfight; that team is very good,” Sehome coach Brad Jackson said of the Bayhawks. “Keeping your focus is a hard thing (during the BellingHome event), but we did a pretty job of it.”
Wright, who led the Mariners with 20 points and four 3-pointers, agreed with his coach.
“It’s my favorite game of the year,” said the 5-foot-10 point guard, who had 12 points in the first quarter as the Mariners took a seven-point lead. “They’ve been pretty hot so we expected a battle. But we stayed focused. They’d go on runs, and we’d go on runs, but we stayed calm.”
After the Bayhawks fought back to briefly take a second-quarter lead, Kelley scored 10 of his 13 points in the second half to help the Mariners go up by six in the fourth quarter.
But while the Mariners tried to stop Bellingham’s leading scorer, senior Joe Harwood, from causing chaos in the key, Van Hofwegen was raining 3s from beyond the arc. The 6-foot guard made six 3-pointers and finished with 25 points.
“After I made my first two shots, I knew I was going to do it,” he said of his career-high night. “This game is so much fun. You know it’s going to be a crazy atmosphere. We hung with a team that was pretty good, and we played like we can beat them.”
Harward, who joined the school’s prestigious 1,000-point club for career scoring in Tuesday’s upset over Squalicum, had 13 points, and sophomore Emmett Vanhouten had 9 points on three 3-pointers.
In the end, however, it was the Mariners who had more firepower. Joining Wright and Kelley in double figures was senior Cole Turrell with 10 points. Duckworth came off the bench to score 9 points, and junior Quincy Tanovan added a pair of 3s for 6 points.
The victory put Sehome back on the winning track after losing to Sedro-Woolley on Monday and keeps the Mariners in fifth place in the District 1 RPI, right behind Burlington-Edison and ahead of Squalicum.
And guess who Sehome finishes the regular season with next week. The Mariners host the Storm on Wednesday and the Tigers on Friday. Wright, for one, is excited.
“We’re hitting our stride,” he said. “We’ve been playing well, and it’s a good time to be playing well.”
Bellingham, despite playing well the past two weeks, is in ninth place in the District 1 RPI and will probably be headed for the tournament’s play-in game. The Bayhawks hosts Burlington-Edison next Wednesday and Meridian the following Friday to wrap up the regular season.
“Hopefully, we’ll be playing our best basketball at the end,” said McKay. “We have to build on what we’re doing.”
Sehome 65, Bellingham 55
Bellingham 13 15 15 12—55
Sehome 20 12 16 17—65
Bellingham: Wright 4, Vanhouten 9, Campos, Harward 13, Vergillo, Johnson 4, McGerr, Van Hofwegen 25, Medina.
Sehome: Wright 20, Jackson 2, Tanovan 6, Fagaautau, Kelley 13, Miller 5, Braunstein, Duckworth 9, Turrell 10.
