For Whatcom County’s two defending state championship teams, it was business as usual on Thursday night, Feb. 19.
The Lynden girls broke away in the fourth quarter to defeat Archbishop Murphy, 58-40, and claim the Class 2A District 1 championship at Mount Vernon High School. It was the 71st straight victory for the two-time defending 2A state champs.
It was not a happy ending for the Lynden boys, either figuratively or literally, as the Lions lost in the final minutes to Anacortes, 50-47, in their District 1 title game. Fortunately, like their girls team, the Lynden boys had already clinched spots in the state regionals.
Both the Lummi Nation boys and girls have also earned berths in the state regionals, but only the boys won their Class 1B District 1/2/3 semifinal game on Thursday.
The defending state champion Blackhawks crushed Summit Classical Christian, 85-48, at Marysville-Pilchuck, while the Lady Blackhawks lost to Crosspoint Christian, 61-50, at Sequim.
The two Lummi teams aren’t done with their tri-district tournaments, which wrap up Saturday at the Muckleshoot Community Center.
The boys play Tulalip Heritage for the fourth time this season in the championship game at 7 p.m., while the girls take on host Muckleshoot Tribal in the third-place game at 4 p.m.
2A Girls: Lynden Downs Archbishop Murphy For Title, 58-40
The 2A district final was billed as a battle between two all-state guards, and while the two stars put on a show, it was the top-ranked Lions who lived up to the hype by pulling away from sixth-ranked Archbishop Murphy in the final six minutes of their 58-40 victory.
While the two-time defending state champions had already clinched a state berth last Saturday, Lynden coach Rob Adams wanted to make sure the Lions took time to appreciate the district championship and their 23rd victory this season without a defeat.
“The district title means everything,” he said. “We celebrate all the accomplishments. Not everyone gets to do this. We are going to enjoy all of this.”
The crowd certainly enjoyed the performances of the two teams’ leading scorers — Lynden junior Finley Parcher and Archbishop Murphy senior Brooke Blachly.
Parcher, the 2A player of the year as sophomore, was unstoppable driving in the paint and running the floor, putting up 25 points.
Blachly fired up the long ball from everywhere and anywhere, making seven 3s and finishing with a game-high 29 points — all despite the constant pressure from Lynden senior Rilanna Newcomb and others.
Even Adams was impressed: “She’s one of the better pure shooters in the state of Washington. Her full arsenal was on display. She was playing basketball at a different level. But I thought Rilanna did a phenomenal job on her. Those were really, really tough 29 points.”
More importantly, making life difficult for Blachly using only one defender allowed the rest of the Lions to shut down the rest of the Wildcats. Only four other players scored, none had more than four points, and the 40 total points was Archbishop Murphy’s lowest output of the season as the Wildcats dropped to 18-5 this season.
“We take pride in our defense,” said Parcher. “We didn’t want to give up any points.”
And Parcher, on the other hand, got the help Lynden needed as seven different Lions scored. Senior Payton Mills had 12 points, including three of the team’s four 3-pointers, and junior Lexi Hermanutz pitched in with 9 points.
Lynden took control of the game in the second quarter with an 18-point outburst to take an 11-point lead, which the Lions still held until the start of the fourth quarter. But the Wildcats scored five straight to cut the margin to 41-65.
That’s when Parcher and the Lynden defense went back to work. She scored 10 points in the final period as the Lions finished off the game with a 17-5 run.
Although the game was closer than the final score, both Parcher and Adams were pleased with the test.
“It was a great challenge for us,” said Parcher. “It will prepare us for the games coming.”
Reflecting on the crowd and playoff atmosphere, Adams said, “It gets you ready for what Yakima will be like.” Of course, Yakima’s SunDome is where the state tournament will be held March 4-7.
But the coach wanted to remind this year’s group that despite the long winning streak and state championship trophies in the Lynden trophy case, nobody is engraving “Lynden” on this year’s gold ball quite yet.
“When we started the (winning) streak, we were the ones hunting people,” said Adams. “Now, we’re hunting again. We’re not defending the state title. Nobody’s won it in 2026. I told them, ‘Let’s go hunting.’”
Lynden 58, Archbishop Murphy 40
Archbishop Murphy 12 7 11 10—40
Lynden 12 18 11 17—58
Archbishop Murphy: Blachly 29, Hookfin 2, Fletcher 3, Miller, Cohen, K. Fryberg, Cham 4, Wright 2.
Lynden: Bowler, Hermanutz 9, Nyhoff 3, Newcomb 3, Slayton, R. Stephan 4, I. Stephan 2, Parcher 25, Mills 12.
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 51, Anacortes 38 (winner third, to District 1/5 crossover, loser out)
Thursday, Feb. 19
At Mount Vernon
Championship game
Lynden 58, Archbishop Murphy 40 (winner first, loser second, both to state regionals)
2A Boys: Anacortes Rallies To Beat Lynden In District Final, 50-47
In a back-and-forth championship battle, the Lynden boys appeared to finally take command when Spencer Adams’s drive at the buzzer gave the Lions an eight-point lead at the end of the third quarter. Even after Anacortes tied it up, another Adams bucket with 3:13 left seemed to give the Lions back the momentum.
Unfortunately, the last three minutes belonged to the Seahawks. While the Lions were missing shots and turning the ball over, Anacortes scored the game’s last six points to pull out a 50-47 victory and give the Seahawks the district title.
“It was a game of runs,” said Lynden coach Brian Roper, whose 10th-ranked Lions dropped to 17-7 on the season. “Unfortunately, they had the last one. We had a lead but didn’t finish it.”
Up until then, the game was more reminiscent of Lynden-Anacortes football games than Lynden’s regular-season 10-point basketball victory as physical play frequently sent bodies crashing to the floor.
After leading by four points after one quarter, the Lions found themselves down by five at the half. But after adjusting, they outscored sixth-ranked Anacortes, 18-5, in the third quarter to take the short-lived eight-point lead.
Leading Lynden was senior Ty Jorgenson, who had a game-high 21 points, 11 of them coming in the big third quarter, and a team-high 7 rebounds and 4 blocked shots. But points were hard to come by in the defensive battle as no other Lion was in double figures.
Junior Gordy Bedlington had 8 points; Adams had 7 points, 5 rebounds, and a game-high 3 assists; and senior Brody Price had 5 points.
The loss might have been disappointing but didn’t change the future. The Lions had already qualified for state for the 14th time in a row and will now await the seedings to find out when, where, and who they will be playing in the regionals.
“A tough loss doesn’t always make you better; it’s how you respond to it,” said Roper. “The good news is that we control our future. We learned you have to execute under pressure better. We did pretty good for most of the game, but not when it counted the most.”
Jorgenson was intent on looking at the positive side.
“We wrote on the board (in the locker room), ‘Stay together,’” he said. “We still made it to regionals. We can still make a good run (at state).”
Anacortes 50, Lynden 47
Anacortes 11 18 5 16—50
Lynden 15 9 18 5—47
Anacortes: S. Roberts 2, G. Willoughby 8, L. Roberts 10, Moore 3, Harrington 7, Morgenthaler 6, Dickison 14.
Lynden: Navarre 3, Bedlington 8, Price 5, Ellis, Mar. Koenen, Mal. Koenen 3, Whitney, Jorgenson 21, Adams 7.
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 63, Burlington-Edison 56 (winner to District 1/5 crossover, loser out)
Thursday, Feb. 19
At Mount Vernon
Championship game
Anacortes 50, Lynden 47 (winner first, loser second, both to state regionals)
1B Boys: Blackhawks Overcome Summit In Semifinals, 85-48
Defending state champion Lummi Nation ended all the suspense with a 27-point first quarter to take a 17-point lead and easily defeat Summit Classical Christian of Issaquah, 85-48, in the tri-district semifinals. The victory improved third-ranked Blackhawks’ record to 22-1-1, while the Archers dropped to 18-7.
“It was a good win for the Blackhawks tonight to earn a spot in the tri-district championship game,” said Lummi Nation coach Jerome Toby Sr. “The boys came out ready to play. I liked our boys’ defensive effort and unselfish play.”
Dyson Edwards had the hot hand for Lummi on Thursday. The junior guard had a game-high 31 points, including three 3s, and made all four of his free throws. He had 10 points to ignite the Blackhawks’ big first period.
“Dyson had a great game tonight,” said Toby. “Offensively, he found a good rhythm and let the game come to him. He also had a tough defensive assignment on Summit’s best player and did a great job.”
As usual, there was a flock of Blackhawks scoring. Senior Jerome Toby Jr. had 18 points, senior Chayce Waite-Kellar had 14 points, junior Landon LaFontaine had 12 points, and junior Deandre James added 6 points.
Next up for the Blackhawks is a familiar foe — Tulalip Heritage — in the tri-district championship game on Saturday. Lummi Nation won both of their regular-season meetings in close games and on Feb. 10 defeated the Hawks by one point in the District 1 title game.
“Playing a team four times is a tough task, so it’ll be a challenge for the Blackhawks,” said coach Toby. “We have to be ready for a battle.”
Lummi Nation 85, Summit Classical Christian 48
Summit Classical Christian 10 10 19 9—48
Lummi Nation 27 15 21 22—85
Summit Classical Christian: Forrest 5, H. Gledhill 6, Brown 4, J. Gledhill 26, Ray 2, K. Brady 5.
Lummi Nation: Toby Jr. 18, LaFontaine 12, Edwards 31, Revey 2, Yrizarris 2, Hawk, Waite-Kellar 14, D. James 6, Toby-Williams, Jones.
CLASS 1B BOYS DISTRICT 1/2/3 TOURNAMENT
Thursday, Feb. 12
Play-in game
Cedar Park Christian (Lynnwood) 51, Crosspoint Christian 45
Saturday, Feb. 14
First round
Evergreen Lutheran 94, Clallam Bay 59 (loser out)
Concordia Christian Academy 71, Shoreline Christian 39 (loser out)
Summit Classical Christian School 84, Cedar Park Christian (Lynnwood) 29 (loser out)
Northwest Yeshiva 71, Darrington 60 (loser out)
Tuesday, Feb. 17
Quarterfinals
Lummi Nation 81, Northwest Yeshiva 34
Tulalip Heritage 90, Evergreen Lutheran 45
Neah Bay 55, Concordia Christian Academy 50
Summit Classical Christian 65 Muckleshoot Tribal 56
Thursday, Feb. 19
Consolation round
Concordia Christian Academy 52, Evergreen Lutheran 47
Muckleshoot Tribal 60, Northwest Yeshiva 39
Semifinals
Lummi Nation 85, Summit Classical Christian 48
Tulalip Heritage 75, Neah Bay 50
Saturday, Feb. 21
At Muckleshoot Community Center
Consolation games
Everreen Lutheran vs. Northwest Yeshiva, 8:30 a.m. (winner seventh to state regionals, loser out)
Muckleshoot Tribal vs. Concordia Christian Academy, 9:30 a.m. (winner fifth, loser sixth, both to state regionals)
Neah Bay vs. Summit Classical Christian, 2 p.m. (winner third, loser fourth, both to state regionals)
Championship game
Lummi Nation vs. Tulalip Heritage, 7 p.m. (winner first, loser second, both to state regionals)
1B Girls: Lady Blackhawks Fall In Semis To Crosspoint Christian, 61-50
A cold spell in the third quarter and a hot Crosspoint Christian fourth quarter were too much for Lummi Nation to overcome as the Lady Blackhawks lost their Class 1B tri-district semifinal, 61-50. The loss dropped sixth-ranked Lummi Nation to 20-3, while eighth-ranked Crosspoint improved to 20-4.
In the first half, Lummi Nation limited the Wildcats to 18 points and owned a five-point lead at the intermission. But the Blackhawks only managed nine points in the third quarter and couldn’t hold off the Bremerton team, which scored 43 points in the second half.
Eighth-grader Jordy Reeder continued her stellar play with a game-high 23 points, including five of Lummi Nation’s 10 3-pointers. Senior Ailina Rabang and junior Jemma James had 9 points each, and senior Bri Metteba added 7 points.
“Things didn’t go our way tonight, but we’re back to work tomorrow to get ready for Muckleshoot on Saturday,” said Lummi Nation coach David James, whose squad has already qualified for its third straight trip to state.
The Blackhawks will meet Muckleshoot Tribal on Saturday with the winner taking third-place and the loser fourth.
Crosspoint Christian 61, Lummi Nation 50
Lummi Nation 13 10 9 18—50
Crosspoint Christian 10 8 20 23—61
Lummi Nation: J. James 9, Rabang 9, B. Metteba 7, Reeder 23, Dennis 2, Lajuan, C. James.
Crosspoint Christian: Fraser 6, A. Kuske 13, Parker 4, L. Wasson 14, Crollard 7, K. Kuske 17.
CLASS 1B GIRLS DISTRICT 1/2/3 TOURNAMENT
Saturday, Feb. 14
Play-in games
Grace Academy 29, Summit Classical Christian 23 (loser out)
Concrete 61, Crescent 29 (loser out)
Evergreen Lutheran 55, Cedar Park Christian (Lynnwood) 12 (loser out)
Lopez Island 39, Quilcene 29 (loser out)
Tuesday, Feb. 17
Quarterfinals
Neah Bay 76, Lopez Island 8
Crosspoint Christian 71, Grace Academy 19
Lummi Nation 71, Concrete 23
Muckleshoot Tribal 56, Evergreen Lutheran 52
Thursday, Feb. 19
Consolation round
Concrete 37, Grace Academy 21
Evergreen Lutheran 50, Lopez Island 32
Semifinals
Crosspoint Christian 61, Lummi Nation 50
Neah Bay 78, Muckleshoot Tribal 48
Saturday, Feb. 21
At Muckleshoot Community Center
Consolation games
Lopez Island vs. Grace Academy, 11 a.m. (winner seventh to state regionals, loser out)
Concrete vs. Evergreen Lutheran, 12:30 p.m. (winner fifth, loser sixth, both to state regionals)
Lummi Nation vs. Muckleshoot Tribal, 4 p.m. (winner third, loser fourth, both to state regionals)
Championship game
Neah Bay vs. Crosspoint Christian, 5:30 p.m. (winner first, loser second, both to state regionals)
