Lummi, Lynden Girls One Step From State; Sehome Girls, Lummi Boys Fall

The Lummi Nation and Lynden girls moved one step closer to reaching their respective state tournaments with big victories on Thursday, Feb. 17.

Unfortunately, Sehome couldn’t make it a clean sweep for our Whatcom County girls teams because the Mariners played Lynden and someone had to lose. On Thursday, it was Sehome that saw its season come to an end with a 43-34 loss in the Class 2A District 1 consolation round.

Meanwhile, the Lady Blackhawks moved within one win of a state berth by beating Orcas Island, 61-50, in the Class 1B District 1/2/3 tournament on Thursday.

On the boys side, Lummi Nation failed to reach its third straight tri-district championship game when it lost to Northwest Yeshiva, 57-51, in the boys semifinals.

Here’s a look at Thursday’s playoff games involving Whatcom County teams:

1B Girls: Lummi Nation Sinks Orcas Island

The Lady Blackhawks bounced back from a disappointing quarterfinal loss to knock off Orcas Island, 61-50, in a Class 1B District 1/2/3 consolation contest Thursday afternoon at Mount Vernon Christian.

“I guess we like the hard road,” said Lummi Nation coach Krista Jefferson, whose team improved to 11-5.

The third-seeded Blackhawks need to win one more game to reach their goal of qualifying for state.

They will play fourth-seed Muckleshoot Tribal School (14-4) for fifth place and the tri-district’s final state berth on Saturday at noon in a winner-to-state, loser-out game at Mount Vernon Christian. This is a rematch of a Dec. 18 game that the Kings won, 48-40.

“It’s fun but scary,” said sophomore Serena Jo Pantelia of the pressure-packed consolation games. But now her eyes are set on reaching state again, where she played all of four minutes for the Lady Blackhawks as an eighth-grader in 2020. “This time I’ll play a little more than four minutes.”

Lummi Nation fans hope so. Pantelia had 15 points on Thursday, one of four Blackhawks who scored nine or more points.

Junior Aleisha Solomon led the way with 16 points, sophomore Keyonee Morris had 13, and junior Raven Solomon had 9 points. The fifth starter, Jacynta Myles, was hampered by foul trouble, but still had 6 points and dominated the paint.

“We focused on moving the ball,” said Jefferson. “It was great to see three or four girls in double digits.”

It took a while for the Blackhawks to get rolling against seventh-seed Orcas Island, which finished the year at 7-11.

After Pantelia hit a halfcourt 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer to give Lummi Nation a seven-point lead, the Vikings chipped away behind star Bethany Carter, eventually tying the game at 34-34 with just over three minutes left in the third quarter.

But the Blackhawks scored the last 11 points of the period to take command. Pantelia hit a driving layup and a free throw, Raven and then Aleisha Solomon hit runners in the key, Morris added another bucket, and Pantelia finished off a fastbreak with a layup.

The Vikings got the deficit under 10 in the final period as Carter, who finished with 34 points, hit three of her six 3-pointers. But Aleisha Solomon had seven points in the fourth quarter and the Blackhawks sank four free throws to sink the Vikings.

Lummi Nation 61, Orcas Island 50

Orcas Island 5 14 15 16—50

Lummi Nation 11 15 19 16—61

Orcas Island: Sofia Mahony-Jaugregui, Taylor Malo, Bethany Carter 34, Shaye Spinner 4, Ava Ashcroft 5, Lili Malo 7.

Lummi Nation: Aleisha Solomon 16, Graciela Lopez, Raven Solomon 9, Serena Pantelia 15, Keyonee Morris 13, Jacynta Myles 6, Aubree James, Zeta Lansem 2, Louella Toby.

CLASS 1B TRI-DISTRICT 1/2/3 TOURNAMENT

Saturday, Feb. 12

Play-in games

#6 Evergreen Lutheran 47, #11 Crescent 35 (loser out)

#7 Orcas Island 53, #10 Crosspoint 20 (loser out)

#5 Grace Academy 49, #12 Northwest Yeshiva 22 (loser out)

#8 Sound Christian Academy 67, #9 Shoreline Christian 43 (loser out)

Tuesday, Feb. 15

First round

Evergreen Lutheran 47, #3 Lummi Nation 43

#2 Neah Bay 83, Orcas Island 35

Grace Academy 52, #4 Muckleshoot Tribal School 37

#1 Mount Vernon Christian 75, Sound Christian Academy 37

Thursday, Feb. 17

Consolation round

Lummi Nation 61, Orcas Island 50 (loser out)

Muckleshoot Tribal School 51, Sound Christian Academy 47 (loser out)

Semifinals

Neah Bay 74, Evergreen Lutheran 28

Mount Vernon Christian 73, Grace Academy 32

Saturday, Feb. 19

At Mount Vernon Christian

Lummi Nation vs. Muckleshoot Tribal School, noon (winner fifth, to state regionals, loser out)

Evergreen Lutheran vs. Grace Academy, 3:45 p.m. (winner third, loser fourth, both to state regionals)

Mount Vernon Christian vs. Neah Bay, 6:30 p.m. (winner first, loser second, both to state regionals)

STATE REGIONALS

Friday and Saturday, Feb. 25 and 26

STATE TOURNAMENT

At Spokane Arena

Wednesday-Saturday, March 2-5

2A Girls: Lynden Ousts Sehome In Defensive Battle

With their seasons on the line, the Lynden girls outlasted Sehome in a defensive struggle, 43-34, in Thursday’s Class 2A District 1 consolation play.

The victory puts the third-seeded Lions (14-6) in Saturday’s consolation final against seventh-seed Cedarcrest (9-11) at 5:30 p.m. at Mount Vernon High School. The winner earns the district’s third state berth and will play in the state regionals on Feb. 25 or 26.

“It was a great, hard-fought game,” said Sehome coach Kim Kirk, whose fourth-seeded Mariners finished the year at 8-11. “It was our best defensive game of the season. We just had some shots not go our way and gave up a couple of offensive boards.”

Lynden jumped out to the early lead thanks to six first-quarter points from senior Claire DeVries and held Sehome to less than nine points in each of the first three quarters.

The Mariners rallied with 13 fourth-quarter points and held Lynden to only one field goal in the final period. But the Lions kept Sehome at bay by hitting eight of 10 free throws with junior Adia Newcomb making six of seven.

Newcomb was the only player in double figures with 13 points. Freshman Kiki York came off the bench to spark Lynden with 9 points, sophomore Haylee Koetje had 7 points, and sophomore Mallary Villars and DeVries finished with 6 points each.

For Sehome, senior Maddie Schumacher and sophomore Madi Cooper had 8 points each, and senior Ava Lunny added 7 points.

“I couldn’t be more proud of this group especially our two seniors,” Kirk said of Schumacher and Lunny. “They left it out on the floor.”

Lynden 43, Sehome 34

Sehome 7 8 6 13—34

Lynden 15 8 10 10—43

Sehome: Emmy Hart 3, Madi Cooper 8, Macie Aven 3, Kylie Watson, Maddie Schumacher 8, Dakota Grahn, Maya Sargent, Ava Lunny 7, Mac Cooper 5.

Lynden: Kamryn Hermanutz, Mya VanderYacht, Ella Selcho, Mallary Villars 6, Claire DeVries 6, Adia Newcomb 13, Haylee Koetje 7, Kiki York 9, Chloe Wittenberg 2.

CLASS 2A DISTRICT 1 TOURNAMENT

Play-in games

Thursday, Feb. 10

#7 Cedarcrest 51, #10 Sedro-Woolley 24 (loser out)

#8 Bellingham 51, #9 Lakewood 48 OT (loser out)

First round

Saturday, Feb. 12

#2 Archbishop Murphy 65, Cedarcrest 28

#3 Lynden 51, #6 Squalicum 37

#5 Anacortes 37, #4 Sehome 35

#1 Burlington-Edison 2, Bellingham 0 (forfeit)

Tuesday, Feb. 15

Consolation games

Cedarcrest 47, Squalicum 41 (loser out)

Sehome 63, Bellingham 30 (loser out)

Semifinals

At Mount Vernon

Archbishop Murphy 43, Lynden 38

Burlington-Edison 61, Anacortes 29

Consolation games

Thursday, Feb. 17

At Mount Vernon

Cedarcrest 45, Anacortes 38 (loser out)

Lynden 43, Sehome 34 (loser out)

Saturday, Feb. 19

At Mount Vernon

Consolation final

Lynden vs. Cedarcrest, 5:30 p.m. (winner to state regionals, loser out)

Championship game

Burlington-Edison vs. Archbishop Murphy, 7 p.m. (winner to state regionals, loser out)

STATE REGIONALS

Friday and Saturday, Feb. 25 and 26

STATE TOURNAMENT

At Yakima SunDome

Wednesday-Saturday, March 2-5

1B Boys: Lummi Nation Loses To Northwest Yeshiva In Semis

The Lummi Nation boys had their 14-game winning streak broken with a 57-51 loss to Northwest Yeshiva in the Class 1B District 1/2/3 semifinals on Thursday in Tacoma.

The Blackhawks, who fell to 14-2 on the season, will play Crosspoint (17-5) on Saturday at 5 p.m. at Mount Vernon Christian with the winner taking third and the loser fourth. Both teams already have earned state berths and will be playing either Feb. 25 or 26 in the state regionals.

“I want to credit Northwest Yeshiva,” said Lummi Nation coach Jerome Toby. “They deserved to win tonight. They outplayed us and were determined to beat the Blackhawks. Now we look forward to Saturday’s game versus a tough Crosspoint team.”

The Blackhawks fell behind early Thursday after scoring only 16 first-half points, but couldn’t make up the difference despite a second-half rally. Senior post Tyran Lane led Lummi with 24 points, 12 rebounds, and 3 blocks. Eighth-grader Jerome Toby Jr. had 9 points, 4 assists, and 3 steals, and senior Duncan Toby had 7 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals.

Northwest Yeshiva (15-2) and Mount Vernon Christian, which upset top-seed Crosspoint in Thursday’s other semifinal, will play for the tri-district title on Saturday. Both have qualified for state along with Orcas Island and Neah Bay, which will be playing for fifth and sixth place on Saturday.

The Blackhawks will be making their 10th state appearance in the past 14 seasons.

Northwest Yeshiva 57, Lummi Nation 51

Northwest Yeshiva 17 12 8 20—57

Lummi Nation 10 6 16 19—51

Northwest Yeshiva: Victor Maimon 7, Yoel Kintzer 20, Aryeh Goldberg 9, Daniel Negrin, Shimon Rosenbaum 9, Eli Weiss 12.

Lummi Nation: Jerome Toby 9, Tobias Francis, Mathias Johnson 4, Duncan Toby 7, Adam Bello, Desmond Bailey, Richard Wilson 4, Tony Abrams 2, Tyran Lane 24.

CLASS 1B TRI-DISTRICT 1/2/3 TOURNAMENT

Saturday, Feb. 12

Play-in games

#6 Puget Sound Adventist 64, #11 Crescent 30 (loser out)

#7 Orcas Island 61, #10 Muckleshoot Tribal School 34 (loser out)

#5 Neah Bay 65, #12 Cedar Park Christian (Lynnwood) 25 (loser out)

#8 Grace Academy 53, #9 Sound Christian Academy 35 (loser out)

Tuesday, Feb. 15

First round

#3 Northwest Yeshiva 63, Puget Sound Adventist 51

#2 Lummi Nation 63, Orcas Island 51

#4 Mount Vernon Christian 58, Neah Bay 33