State tournament recap: Quarterfinals

Nathan Schumock

Sports Editor

YAKIMA — Four Tribune-area teams competed in the state quarter nals to advance to the semi nals. Each team won their quarter nal matches to move on in the tournament. Recaps of all four games are below.

1A girls quarter nals: No. 1 Nooksack Valley vs. No. 7 Cashmere e Nooksack Valley girls basketball team started its SunDome games on the right foot after a 53-41 win over Cashmere. e Pioneers advanced to the 1A state semi nals where they saw No. 5 Kings. It was the second straight semi nals trip for Nooksack Valley. e Pioneers struggled mightily in the rst half. ey shot 9-27 from the eld and were trapped by the Cashmere defense. Star forward Devin Coppinger was being double-teamed throughout the game, so Nooksack Valley had to rely on other offensive options. Coppinger said it took them a half to adjust, but she is proud of how well her teammates stepped up.

Cashmere played Nooksack Valley tougher than any team this year. ey were within ve points of Nooksack Valley through three quarters of the game and even led going into halftime. It is a rare occurrence to see the Pioneers trail before the half.

“It is a team e ort, I know I don’t have to just go get mine I can rely on my team,” Coppinger said.

Nooksack Valley junior Kaylee Anderson stepped up to ll the o ensive void. She had 12 points on 4-7 shooting from the three-point line. Her e ective threepoint shooting helped the Pioneers stay in the game and provided insurance when they were closing it out.

Senior Hallie Kamphouse and junior Lainey Kimball led the way in the rst half. ey each had six points in the rst two quarters and helped the Pioneers maintain a lead while the Cashmere defense blanketed Coppinger. ey each nished the game with nine points.

By the fourth quarter, Coppinger broke through the Cashmere defense and hit some big buckets and free throws to secure the Nooksack Valley win. She nished with 12 points, seven rebounds, one assist and a steal. e Pioneers went on an 8-0 run to end the game. Nooksack Valley head coach Shane Wichers said Cashmere was really physical and relentless, but as the game progressed, they adjusted.

“Once we started getting the spacing it was just a matter of hitting shots,” Wichers said.

State basketball is a consistent string of games, so the Pioneers played again on March 3 in the semi nals. Kings was a worthy opponent, they were 22-3 on the season and defeated Deer Park in overtime in the quarter nals.

2A boys quarter nals: No. 6 Lynden vs. No. 13 North Kitsap e Lions opened the game on a 10-0 run featuring two three-pointers by Canales and buckets by Barr and Parcher. ey never looked back after the hot start. ey outscored the Vikings 39-20 in the rst half.

Lynden blew out North Kitsap 68-34 to advance to the 2A state semi nals. e Lions moved on to face Prosser in their semi nal matchup. ey faced Prosser earlier in the season and won by a slim ve points. Following the Prosser game they advanced to face Mark Morris in the state championship.

Lynden dominated every aspect of the quarter nal game. ey outplayed North Kitsap on o ense and defense and won the turnover margin. ey also outrebounded and had more assists than the Vikings.

Lynden head coach Brian Roper said they were defensively dialed in and he was impressed by their e orts against a strong North Kitsap o ense.

“We want to be able to wear teams down with our athletes and our style of play,” Roper said.

Anthony Canales was the leading scorer in the game with 19 points. He added six rebounds, three assists, one steal and two rim-rocking dunks. Canales also suffered an ankle injury in the game and produced most of those stats while playing through the pain.

As a team, Lynden had four scorers in double digits. Senior Coston Parcher was second in points with 14, sophomore Brant Heppner had 12 and senior Kobe Baar had 11.

Lynden forced 17 turnovers and scored 22 of their points o those turnovers. ey also had 14 o ensive rebounds and 16 second-chance points.

By the second half, North Kitsap looked depleted. ey only scored four points in the fourth quarter and Lynden subbed in their reserves to nish o the game. Roper said there are a lot of good teams left and anyone could win at a given time.

1A girls quarter nals: No. 2 Lynden Christian vs. No. 9 Freeman e Lynden Christian girls played the nail bitter of the night in their 46-44 overtime victory over Freeman. e Lyncs were one free throw away from being eliminated from championship contention. LC controlled the game throughout three and a half quarters, but midway through the fourth quarter, they started to falter. e Lyncs did not back down and battled back after big buckets by seniors Demi Dykstra and Reganne Arnold. e Lyncs were down two points and Arnold hit a layup to tie the game at 4040 with 35 seconds remaining. Following the equalizing basket, the game got out of hand. LC had possession with about ve seconds left and ran a fast break through sophomore Grace Hintz. She missed the layup, Freeman rebounded and then LC fouled a Freeman player.

LC was leading 31-27 heading into the nal quarter of play and seemed to have a solid grasp of the game. at was until Freeman started to go on a late run. Midway through the fourth quarter Freeman hit a three-pointer and jumped ahead by six points.

Freeman was in the bonus, so they received free throws but missed both. e game stayed knotted at 40-40 and went into overtime. Each team struggled to score in overtime, but Hintz showed up when it mattered. She caught the ball as she drove to the hoop and layed the ball in for the game-winning shot.

LC head coach Brady Bomber said he is proud of how his players persevered through all the adversity they faced in the game.

“Our girls have really pursued trying to use adversity to strengthen them this year,” Bomber said. “Whether it is in practice, whether it is how a game goes, how a play goes. I thought tonight was a great picture for us where we were able to do that.”

Collectively, it was a rough shooting game for both sides. e two teams shot a combined 34-103 from the eld. LC senior Demi Dykstra was the most e cient shooter for the Lyncs with 13 points on 6-10 shooting.

Hintz also had 13 points on 6-21 shoot- ing. Hintz made LC history in the game. Her 13 points gave her the single-season scoring record for the Lyncs. She has 550 points through 27 games to surpass Jasmine Hommes's 542 points in 2011. It is a very impressive achievement for Hintz and she will probably pass her own record in the next couple of years.

1A boys quarter nals: No. 1 Lynden Christian vs. No. 2 Zillah e Lyncs faced early foul trouble that forced Jeremiah Wright out of the game for the majority of the rst three quarters. One of Zillah’s strengths was their tall and lengthy players and Wright is usually the person to slow those guys down. With Wright out, LC had to rely on other players to step up, and they did just that.

YAKIMA — Lynden Christian battled through adversity in an impressive 58-45 win over Zillah.

Senior Braden Kuik played a huge role in Wright's absence.

Kuik played strong defense and helped keep Zillah scoring to a minimum. He added eight rebounds, two steals and a block in the win.

Wright said he appreciates his teammates stepping up in the quarter nal game. He noted that Kuik was an important piece for LC in the win.

Another player that stepped up was Sophomore Gannon Dykstra. He had eight points in 15 minutes played.

LC head coach Tim Zylstra said they had to patch some things together throughout the game.

“I am so proud of the bench, every single guy we put in contributed to that one,” Zylstra said.

Seniors Tyler Sipma and Gri n Dykstra were the leading scorers for the Lyncs. Sipma had 14 points and helped keep LC a oat. He also added six assists, nine rebounds and one steal. Gri n Dykstra was the second-leading scorer with 13 points on 5-15 shooting.

Despite the foul troubles, the game went into the fourth quarter of play tied at 39-39. e Lyncs were able to get their full starting lineup back in the game by the fourth. When Wright was inserted back into the game, it felt like the momentum shifted back in the LC's favor. He had six fourth-quarter points and added 10 rebounds in the game.

Gri n Dykstra, Sipma and Wright put the Lyncs on an 8-1 run near the beginning of the fourth quarter and that set the tone for LC as they closed it out.