After a couple of days of rest, it’s time to reflect on what our Whatcom boys and girls accomplished this past week at their state tournaments in Yakima and Spokane starting with winning three state championships.
How remarkable is that?
Well, it’s more than any other county won and more than the six most populated counties (King, Pierce, Snohomish, Spokane, Clark, and Thurston) won combined.
You can still catch your favorite seniors this Friday at the John Clark Whatcom County Senior Classic at Lynden’s Jake Maberry Gymnasium. The girls pre-game events start at 6 p.m. and the boys action follows. Watch for a preview later this week at Whatcom Hoops.
It’s nearly half of the state titles we could possibly win (three of eight) since we have schools in only four classifications.
And it’s something our teams have achieved four of the past five years.
But there were other great accomplishments by our teams in the Class 1B, 1A, and 2A state tournaments that should be recognized. Here they are, ranked from eight to the top one:
8. The Nooksack Valley Girls Reach State.
The Pioneers were rightly disappointed in not getting to Yakima for the fifth straight tournament, but they did survive a tough district tournament to qualify for the state regionals. Just as they proved last year, the Nooksack Valley tradition was there long before and is continuing after the Valley Girls state championship era.
7. The Lynden Boys Get To Yakima.
No program in the state has higher expectations than the Lynden boys and for good reason. The Lions have made 14 state tournaments in a row, winning six state titles and earning 11 top-three trophies during that time. So while some green and gold faithful were disappointed with just reaching Yakima, it is a reminder of how talented the rest of the state is and how amazing the Lions’ recent run has been.
6. The Lynden Christian Girls Keep Streak Alive.
No program has had more success in the half-century of girls basketball state tournaments than the Lyncs, so not reaching the championship game might have been disappointing for LC fans (although it would have been nice to not face eventual champion Zillah less than 24 hours after a double-overtime game). But think about this: By taking fifth the LC girls earned a trophy for the 21st time in a row. Is there another program in the state that can say that?
5. The Nooksack Boys Pull Off The Upset.
Just making it to state for the first time since 2011 was a great feat for this group of overachieving Pioneers, who came in as the 16th and final seed with a losing record but a winning attitude. They proved they deserved to be invited to the state regionals when they traveled 280 miles down I-5 and pulled off the upset of the Class 1A tournament, knocking off a 20-3 Fort Vancouver squad. That earned them a well-deserved trip to Yakima and although they didn’t place, they’ll still have a place in Nooksack hoops lore.
4. The Lummi Nation Girls Earn A Trophy.
You couldn’t help but root for these Lady Blackhawks who were small, feisty, and always smiling as they stole the ball and fired up another 3-pointer. But when it came to reaching their goal of getting a trophy for the first time since 2009, they were deadly serious. They came within a 3-pointer of pulling off the upset of upsets against eventual four-time state champion Neah Bay, but the Lummi girls came back to earn the coveted fourth-place trophy. State championships aside, it was a great story.
3. The Lynden Christian Boys Win It All.
While our other two state championship teams were top-ranked and heavily favored, the LC boys were, at best, a co-favorite with undefeated Zillah. But when they met on the court in the state finals Saturday night, it was the Lyncs who proved they were the class of Class 1A. While the Lummi Nation boys and Lynden girls won hard-fought titles, the Lyncs dominated the field, winning by an average of 19 points — exactly the margin in the state championship game against the second-best team in the state.
2. The Lummi Nation Boys Repeat.
It’s hard being the Goliath when everyone loves the underdog David story, but that was Lummi Nation’s role this year. The defending champs were the big fish in the little Class 1B pond and when they had to face Tulalip Heritage for the fifth time, the state championship game looked like the perfect time for Lummi to finally fail. But this group of Blackhawks was special and they completed one of the best if not the best season in school history with back-to-back state titles.
1. The Lynden Girls Three-peat.
All state championships are special, but it’s rare for one to be unique. Winning a state championship wasn’t unique for the Lynden girls, who have now done it six times, but winning their third in a row was a first for a Class 2A girls team. And while numbers can’t describe how dominant they’ve been, note that only once in 27 victories did anyone finish within single digits of these Lions. And if you include the district championship game, the Lions beat the Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, and 8 seeded state teams by an average of 19 points. That may have been a first for any state champion.
So, the Golden Era of Whatcom County basketball continues. That makes 23 state championships in the past 10 tournaments. If you want to read about them all and our other decades of state hoops dominance over the past 100 years, click on Golden Era.
Finally, Whatcom Hoops wants to thank all the players, coaches, cheerleaders, bands, and fans that made this one of our most exciting and successful seasons.
I’d also like to personally thank Ray Morris for his excellent photos from the Lummi Nation games in Spokane, the WIAA staff for their well-run tournaments in Yakima, and my wife Nadine for giving me the support I needed to get through four full days (and nights and early mornings) of basketball.
