The Lynden girls and both the Lynden Christian boys and girls basketball teams will be playing for state titles Saturday, March 7, after claiming decisive semifinal victories at the Class 2A and 1A state tournaments Friday.
The Lynden girls started off the Whatcom County quadruple-header in the Yakima SunDome Friday afternoon with a dominating 53-28 victory over Burlington-Edison in the Class 2A tournament. The Lions will now play West Valley of Spokane for the state title Saturday evening.
The Lynden Christian boys followed Friday evening with a 71-58 victory over La Salle in the Class 1A semifinals and will now play King’s for the state crown on Saturday.
And the Lynden Christian girls made it three county teams when they demolished Freeman, 45-25, in the Class 1A semifinal. The Lyncs are in the championship game for the third year in a row and will play top-ranked Cashmere at 9 p.m. Saturday.
Two county teams came up just short in their bids to reach state title games.
There will be no three-peat for the Lynden boys basketball team as the top-ranked Lions struggled in the fourth quarter and lost to North Kitsap, 62-56, in a Class 2A semifinal.
The Lummi Nation boys also were in a semifinal, losing a hard-fought contest to Yakama Nation Tribal, 51-50, in the Class 1B state tournament in the Spokane Arena.
Tournament action began Friday morning for Whatcom County fans as the Meridian boys saw their season come to an end with a 62-56 loss to Cashmere in consolation play of the Class 1A state tournament.
For updated pictures and stories from games involving our Whatcom County teams, keep checking www.whatcomhoops.com.
Here’s what happened Friday:
2A Girls: Lynden Shuts Down Rival Burlington
The top-seeded Lions played their Northwest Conference rivals for the third time this season, beating the fifth-seeded Tigers by 10 in the regular season and 23 in the district tournament.
Junior post Faith Baar had 13 points and senior guard Ruby VanderHaak had 11 points to lead Lynden.
NEXT UP: Lynden will take on West Valley (Spokane) for the state championship on Saturday at 5 p.m.
1A Boys: Lynden Christian Shoots Down La Salle
The sixth-seeded Lyncs hit 11 3-pointers to knock off ninth-seed La Salle in the second 2A semifinal.
Jaden DeBoer hit four of those 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 28 points, and Andrew DeVries tossed in six 3-pointers for his 18 points.
NEXT UP: Lynden Christian will take on King’s for the state championship Saturday at 7 p.m. This is a rematch of their District 1 title game, which the Lyncs lost, 69-57.
1B Boys: Lummi Nation Falls to Yakama Nation Tribal
The third-seeded Blackhawks came up short in their championship bid, losing to second-seed Yakama Nation Tribal.
Caleb Revey had 17 points and Duncan Toby added 13, but the Blackhawks lost for the first time this year to another Class 1B team.
NEXT UP: Lummi Nation will take on Naselle for third and fifth place on Saturday at 11:15 a.m.
2A Boys: Lynden Comes Up Short Against North Kitsap
The top-seeded Lions gave up a 15-point lead as North Kitsap got hot in the fourth quarter and knocked off the two-time defending state champions on Friday.
Jordan Medcalf led Lynden with 17 points, and Brock Heppner and Liam Hanenburg had 16 each. But the Lions were outscored, 29-9, in the final period.
NEXT UP: Lynden will take on Lindbergh, which lost to Clarkston in the other semifinal, for third and fifth place on Saturday at 1 p.m.
1A Girls: Lynden Christian Pulls Away From Freeman
The second-seeded Lyncs turned a close game into a rout with a 21-point third quarter in defeating fourth-seeded Freeman in the late-night semifinal.
Riley Dykstra had 13 points to lead the Lyncs, who won the state title in 2018 and finished second last year.
NEXT UP: Lynden Christian will look to beat Cashmere and superstar Hailey Van Lith for the second time in three years when the two teams square off in the championship game at 9 p.m. Saturday.
