The good news is that all the eight state-bound Whatcom teams will be playing close by. The bad news: You won’t be able to watch them all.
The state regional games for all our teams will be played Friday and Saturday, Feb. 23 and 24, at Lynden and Mount Vernon high schools. Unfortunately, two games on Friday and four games on Saturday will be played at the same times.
The Lynden boys and girls will be playing in their home at Jake Maberry Gymnasium on Friday at 6 and 8 p.m., respectively. (NOTE: The games were switched on Monday.) The Meridian boys will be playing at 8 p.m. in Mount Vernon.
On Saturday, the Lummi Nation girls and boys will be playing in Mount Vernon at noon and 2 p.m., respectively, and will be joined by the Nooksack Valley girls at 4 p.m. (NOTE: These times were changed from earlier announcements.)
But the Lynden Christian girls and boys also will be playing at noon and 2 p.m. at Lynden High.
For the complete brackets, check out the WIAA Tournament Central websites for Girls and Boys.
Here’s how the regional round of the state tournaments works:
A seeding committee ranked the 16 teams in each classifications on Sunday and all of them move on to state regionals this Friday or Saturday.
The top eight seeds play each other with all advancing to their respective state tournaments on Feb. 28 to March 2 (the 2A and 1A in Yakima, the 1B in Spokane). The regional winners, however, move directly to Thursday’s quarterfinals while the losers must win a Wednesday play-in, loser-out game to continue.
The nine through 16 seeds play each other in regionals with only the winners advancing to Wednesday’s play-in state tournament games.
Below is the seeding, dates, locations, and opponents for our eight teams. Whatcom Hoops will give you full previews later in the week. So be watching and keep rooting for our favorite teams.
Friday at Lynden High School
6 p.m.: No.1 Lynden boys (20-4) vs. No.8 Prosser (17-8) (both to 2A state tournament)
8 p.m. No.2 Lynden girls (22-1) vs. No.7 White River (20-3) (both to 2A state tournament)
Friday at Mount Vernon High School
8 p.m.: No.10 Meridian (13-11) vs. No.15 Life Christian Academy (13-10) (winner to 1A state tournament, loser out)
Saturday at Mount Vernon High School
Noon: No.11 Lummi Nation girls (17-8) vs. No.14 Taholah (15-6) (winner to 1B state tournament, loser out)
2 p.m.: No.1 Lummi Nation boys (21-1) vs. No.8 Naselle (19-3) (both to 1B state tournament)
4 p.m.: No.1 Nooksack Valley girls (22-1) vs. No.8 Toppenish (16-8) (both to 1A state tournament)
Saturday at Lynden High School
Noon: Lynden Christian girls (17-7) vs. No.6 Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls) (19-4) (both to 1A state tournament)
2 p.m.: No.2 Lynden Christian boys (21-2) vs. No.7 Seton Catholic (17-5) (both to 1A state tournament)
