Sports roundup: Borderites fall short against

Blaine High School’s boys basketball team lost 60-49 on the road Tuesday night to the Sehome Mariners. It’s the team’s fourth loss in a row in what has been a tough second half of the season.

The Borderites led the Mariners 36-32 at the half, after big three-pointers from seniors Lucas Smith and Carson Lehnert and junior Noah Tavis. Blaine lost momentum in the third quarter.

The boys ended up scoring only five points in the fourth quarter and failed to stop Sehome’s senior big man Grey Garrison.

Head coach Nate Sullivan said he thought the team played well against the Mariner team, which recently beat 2A defending state champions Lynden 72-50 January 27 and are 12-2 in the Northwest Conference. Sullivan said his team brought the energy he wanted from them, but the team fell victim to uncharacteristic shooting in the second half.

“We ran out of gas in the second half,” Sullivan said. “We had a lot of shots fall short. We ran out of legs.”

Smith led Blaine January 31 with 18 points, senior Mathew Russ finished with 13 points and Lehnert finished with 10, according to Blaine’s scorebook. Sehome’s six-foot-seven-inch Garrison finished with 27 points.

The Borderites came into the game on the back of a 70-56 loss January 26 to 1A defending state champions Lynden Christian and a 84-70 loss January 28 to Anacortes, which are 11-1 in the Northwest Conference.

“We have a bit of adversity right now,” Sullivan said about recent results. “One of our starters is injured and we didn’t have a deep team to begin with.”

Senior Ethan Koreski is the player out, and Sullivan said he should be able to return in post-season action. Sullivan said the team has been taking its season one game at a time, but has its eyes set on the state tournament.

“To get east of the mountains is the goal for us,” Sullivan said, referring to the Yakima Valley SunDome.

Sullivan said Blaine has secured the No. 2 seed heading into postseason and will likely play Nooksack Valley Wednesday, February 8 at home. The boys play their last regular season game against Ferndale at 7:15 p.m. Thursday, February 2 in the Blaine High School gymnasium. The Borderites are 12-6 overall this season and 9-5 in conference.

Girls basketball

The Lady Borderites lost 67-35 January 26 to Lynden Christian at home. Then they traveled to Anacortes where they lost 61-36 on a Coaches vs. Cancer Night.

The girls hosted Sehome January 31 and lost 62-36.

The team will travel to Ferndale Thursday, February 2 for its final regular season game. The game is at 7:15 p.m. Blaine is 3-16 so far this season and 1-14 in conference.

Boys wrestling

The 1A boys sub regional wrestling will take place at Meridian High School Saturday, February

4, starting at 11 a.m. Blaine will host the 1A region 1 regionals Saturday, February 11, with competition starting at 11 a.m.

Girls wrestling

The girls wrestling team will compete next at sub regionals at Squalicum High School Saturday, February 4. Wrestling starts at 9:30 a.m.

Girls bowling

Blaine’s girls bowling team took fourth in its first postseason tournament January 24 at Riverside Lanes in Mount Vernon. The girls scored 2,349 points in the district one bowling 3A and 2A/1A tournament.

Competitive cheer

Blaine’s competitive cheer team will travel in its inaugural season to Battle Ground High School February 3-4 for state.