Whatcom County has its first state qualifiers thanks to the Lummi Nation boys and girls basketball teams, which easily won their quarterfinal games at the Class 1B District 1/2/3 tournament on Tuesday, Feb. 18.
The Lady Blackhawks got the evening started at home by jumping out to a big lead and defeating Summit Classical Christian, 58-15.
The Blackhawks wrapped up the evening by jumping out to an evening bigger lead and coasting to a 94-25 victory over Providence Classical Christian.
With the wins, the Lummi Nation teams advance to their tri-district semifinals and, more importantly, are guaranteed a top-six finish and spots in the state regionals on either Feb. 28 or March 1.
First up, however, are the semis on Thursday at Mount Vernon Christian High School. The Lummi girls will play Crosspoint Christian at 5:45 p.m. and the boys will face Summit Classical Christian at 7:15 p.m.
In the 2A boys District 1 tournament on Tuesday, Squalicum couldn’t keep up with Burlington-Edison, losing, 60-43, and having its season come to an end.
CLASS 1B
Lummi Girls Conquer Summit Classical Christian, 58-15
The Lady Blackhawks pressed and shot their way to an 18-2 lead to start the game and limited the Archers to their second lowest point total of the season.
“The girls played well tonight,” said Lummi Nation coach David James, whose sixth-ranked squad improved to 21-3 on the season. “We came out with our pressure defense as usual and jumped out a big lead, then just ran away with it.”
Sophomore Jemma James led the Lummi charge with six of her game-high 15 points coming in the first-quarter blitz. Junior Bri Metteba had 11 points, junior Kashlyn Mack had 10, junior Ailina Rabang had 8s, and freshman Laraya Dennis had 6 points.
The Lady Blackhawks will take on a familiar foe in the semifinals having edged Crosspoint Christian (16-6) in Mount Vernon Christian’s holiday tournament, 53-50. And while Lummi Nation is guaranteed a spot in the state regionals, they are not yet assured of a return trip to the Class 1B state tourney in Spokane.
“It feels good getting that state berth, but we still have got some work to do to make it back to Spokane,” said James. “We are just taking it one game at a time.”
Lummi Nation 58, Summit Classical Christian 15
Summit Classical Christian 2 4 3 6—15
Lummi Nation 18 16 16 8—58
Summit Classical Christian: LeClair 4, J. Forrest 2, Bresetin, Verburg, M. Forrest, Hare 2, Milojench 5, Gilbert, K. Forrest, Mathewson 2, Myers.
Lummi Nation: Morris, J. James 15, Rabang 8, B. Metteba 11, Jones 4, Mack 10, Dennis 6, Williams, M. Metteba, C. James 4.
CLASS 1B GIRLS TRI-DISTRICT 1/2/3 TOURNAMENT
Saturday, Feb. 15
Play-in games
#5 Muckleshoot Tribal School 72, #12 Crescent 36 (loser out)
#6 Sound Christian Academy 38, #11 Providence Classical Christian 23 (loser out)
#7 Summit Classical Christian 35, #10 Grace Academy 18 (loser out)
#9 Evergreen Lutheran 33, #8 Lopez Island 31 (loser out)
Tuesday, Feb. 18
Quarterfinals
#1 Neah Bay 57, Evergreen Lutheran 22
#2 Lummi Nation 58, Summit Classical Christian 15
#3 Crosspoint Christian 82, Sound Christian Academy 25
Muckleshoot Tribal School 51, #4 Concrete 43
Thursday, Feb. 20
Consolation round
Summit Classical Christian (11-8) vs. Sound Christian Academy (13-7), 5:30 p.m. (loser out)
Concrete (16-8) at Evergreen Lutheran (11-8), 5:30 p.m. (loser out)
Semifinals
Lummi Nation (21-3) vs. Crosspoint Christian (16-6) at Mount Vernon Christian, 5:45 p.m.
Neah Bay (18-1) vs. Muckleshoot Tribal (13-6) at Sequim, 5 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 22
At Muckleshoot Community Center
Consolation games
11:30 a.m. (winner fifth, loser sixth, both to state regionals)
1:15 p.m. (winner third, loser fourth, both to state regionals)
Championship game
5 p.m. (winner first, loser second, both to state regionals)
Lummi Boys Blast Providence Classical Christian, 94-25
With two victories over Northwest 1B League rival Providence Classical Christian already this season — one by 43 points and the other by 39 — the sixth-ranked Blackhawks would probably have been satisfied with an easy 40-point win on Tuesday.
Nope. The Blackhawks flew out to a 27-point first-quarter lead and held the short-handed Highlanders, who only played seven players, to single digits in each quarter on the way to a 69-point win. The 94 points scored were Lummi Nation’s second-high point total for the season.
All nine Blackhawks who played scored four or more points with senior RayShawn Bob having a career night with 20 points and four 3-pointers. He also had 4 rebounds and 3 steals.
Junior Jerome Toby added 18 points, another four 3-pointers, 5 assists, and 5 rebounds; senior Trevon Lee had 16 points and 10 rebounds; senior Tony Abrams had 11 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists; senior Karson Revey had 7 points and 6 rebounds; sophomore Dyson Edwards had 7 points and 6 steals; and sophomore Deandre James had 6 points.
Next up is Summit Classical Christian (21-3), which is ranked ninth among 1B schools. Should Lummi Nation win its semifinal matchup, the Blackhawks would play the winner of Thursday’s other semifinal between Tulalip Heritage and Neah Bay on Saturday.
Lummi Nation will be shooting for its third straight tri-district title and its fourth in the past five tournaments.
Lummi Nation 94, Providence Classical Christian 25
Providence Classical Christian 7 4 5 9—25
Lummi Nation 34 21 18 21—94
Providence Classical Christian: Bravo-Jump 6, Knudsen 10, Poole, Wilson 7, Willett, Thrower, Reeve 2.
Lummi Nation: Toby 18, LaFontaine, 5 Edwards 7, Abrams 11, Bob 20, Hawk 4, Lee 16, Revey 7, James 6.
CLASS 1B BOYS DISTRICT 1/2/3 TOURNAMENT
Saturday, Feb. 15
Play-in games
#5 Summit Classical Christian 69, #12 Cedar Park Christian (Lynnwood) 33 (loser out)
#6 Muckleshoot Tribal 88, #11 Crescent 46 (loser out)
#7 Evergreen Lutheran 58, #10 Lopez Island 52 (loser out)
#8 Providence Classical Christian 59, #9 Northwest Yeshiva 50 (loser out)
Tuesday, Feb. 18
Quarterfinals
#1 Lummi Nation 94, Providence Classical Christian 25
#2 Neah Bay 71, Evergreen Lutheran 40
#3 Tulalip Heritage 69, Muckleshoot Tribal 61
Summit Classical Christian 61, #4 Sound Christian Academy 47
Thursday, Feb. 20
Consolation round
Evergreen Lutheran (14-7) vs. Muckleshoot Tribal (16-5) (loser out)
Providence Classical Christian (9-9) vs. Sound Christian Academy (18-5) (loser out)
Semifinals
Tulalip Heritage (19-2) vs. Neah Bay (17-3) at Sequim, 6 p.m.
Summit Classical Christian (21-3) vs. Lummi Nation (20-3) at Mount Vernon Christian, 7:15 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 22
At Muckleshoot Community Center
Consolation games
10 a.m. (winner fifth, loser sixth, both to state regionals)
3 p.m. (winner third, loser fourth, both to state regionals)
Championship game
6:45 p.m. (winner first, loser second, both to state regionals)
CLASS 2A
Squalicum Boys See Season End With 60-43 Loss
The Storm did their best to stay with the taller Tigers, but a quiet, 15-point second half proved to be too little as Squalicum fell to Burlington-Edison in consolation play and saw its season come to an end.
Senior Marcus Nixon did his best to keep the Storm in the game, scoring 17 points in the first half as Squalicum only trailed by four. But the shots didn’t drop after intermission and Squalicum faced a 10-point deficit heading into the fourth quarter.
Unfortunately, things only got worse as Squalicum only managed three points in the final period and couldn’t stop Burlington’s big man, 6-foot-9 Timophey Feskov, who had 10 of his team-high 24 points in the last quarter.
Nixon would finish 24 points and sink a pair of 3-pointers as did senior Jaxon Hofer. Hofer and sophomores Hunter Calloway and Blake Elston had 6 points each for the Storm.
“We lost, but our guys fought hard,” said first-year Squalicum coach David Dunham, whose team finished 12-11. “I am very proud of these young men. They overcame a lot of adversity to get to this point in the season. We built a solid foundation this season and are looking to build on that in the future.”
Besides Nixon and Hofer, seniors Ezra Nichols and Ty Hoffmann played their final game for the Storm.
Burlington improved to 16-7 and will take on Archbishop Murphy in another loser-out contest on Thursday.
Burlington-Edison 60, Squalicum 43
Squalicum 18 10 12 3—43
Burlington-Edison 19 13 18 10—60
Squalicum: Nichols 1, Calloway 6, Nixon 24, Hoffmann, Hofer 6, Elston 6.
Burlington-Edison: Whitlock 9, Belisle, Thornhill 2, Arendse 10, Jamison, Feskov 24, Betz 15.
CLASS 2A BOYS DISTRICT 1 TOURNAMENT
Tuesday, Feb. 18
Consolation games
At Mount Vernon
Archbishop Murphy 61, Anacortes 55 (loser out)
Burlington-Edison 60, Squalicum 43 (loser out)
Wednesday, Feb. 19
At Mount Vernon
Championship game
Lynden (23-0) vs. Lakewood (17-6), 7:45 p.m. (winner first, to state regionals)
Thursday, Feb. 20
At Mount Vernon
Consolation game
Archbishop Murphy (10-13) vs. Burlington-Edison (16-7), 7:45 p.m. (loser out)
Saturday, Feb. 22
At Mount Vernon
Consolation final
Lynden-Lakewood loser vs. Archbishop Murphy-Burlington winner, 7 p.m. (winner second, to state regionals, loser out)
