State tournament recap

YAKIMA — Four Tribune-area team played in the state semi nals on Friday, March 3. ere were a lot of tough battles in the semi nals but all four teams won their games and advanced to the state championship games. Recaps of each of those games are below.

1A girls semi nals: No. 1 Nooksack Valley vs. No. 5 Kings

Nooksack Valley advanced to the state championship game for the second consecutive year after a 58-46 win over Kings.

It was a special display of o ense from Nooksack Valley junior Devin Coppinger that spurred the victory. She had 26 points on 10-17 shooting and four rebounds in the Pioneer's win. Junior Tana Hoekema was a dominant force in the paint. She added 12 points and a gamehigh 10 rebounds.

Coppinger said they are right back where they want to be heading to the state championship.

“ is team is really great and we have such a deep bench so we can rely on everyone,” Coppinger said.

Another bright spot was the play of sophomore Kate Shinta er. She had eight points and shot 3-3 in just seven minutes of play coming o the bench. Coppinger described her as a recracker in this one.

With the win, Nooksack Valley will see a familiar foe in the state title game. e Pioneers will be up against their fellow Whatcom County competitor, Lynden Christian. ese two teams met in the state championship game last year and LC defeated Nooksack Valley by just one point. is year, it has been a di erent story. Nooksack Valley has played LC twice already and won each of them handily. It is hard to beat a team three times in one season, so it will be a fun clash between the top 1A girls teams in the state.

Nooksack Valley head coach Shane Wichers said they are lucky to feel the experience of going to two straight state championship games.

“ ese guys are just focused, it feels like we just won another game,” Wichers said. “I am sure tomorrow night when the lights go o , it will feel a little di erent, but we are excited to be back.”

Against Kings, the Pioneers jumped out to a scorching start. Coppinger already had 11 points by the end of the rst quarter and by halftime, she was up to 20 points. Nooksack Valley went into the half with a comfortable 35-22 lead.

Kings made a late push in the third and into the fourth quarter. ey brought the game within seven points, but that was as close as they got to coming back against Nooksack Valley. Kings Freshman Kaleo Anderson was a spark plug and kept the Knights hanging around. She nished with 23 points on 7-15 shooting and added nine rebounds. Anderson hit three big threes to keep Kings close.

Despite the late push, it never felt like Kings had the chance to get back into the game. ey outscored Nooksack Valley 13-10 in the fourth quarter, but it was too little too late.

1A girls semi nals: No. 2 Lynden Christian vs. No. 3 Wapato e Lyncs broke away completely in the nal period of play to take down Wapato. LC outscored Wapato 35-20 in the last two quarters of the game.

Sophomore Grace Hintz continued her spectacular season with a 25-point display in the semi nal win. She shot 10-20 from the eld and added seven rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block.

Once again, LC senior Demi Dykstra shot 6-10 from the eld on another ecient night. She had 14 points, eight rebounds and two assists.

LC is the defending state champion, but they have a tall task with their matchup in the championship game. ey will see Nooksack Valley, who has defeated them twice this year. ere is nothing left unknown between these two teams and it will be an interesting showdown between the Whatcom County rivals.

LC head coach Brady Bomber said Nooksack Valley is really talented and they are going to play as hard as they can to defeat the Pioneers.

LC and Wapato were like two ghters in the ring. ey traded the lead 12 times in the rst half alone.

Lynden Christian went into halftime with a 32-31 lead after Dykstra hit a buzzer-beating layup.

It was not until the third quarter that the Lyncs really started to break away. LC senior Daisy Poag came out of the locker room with a hot hand from the threepoint line. She hit back-to-back threepointers to give the Lyncs an early advantage. By the end of the third quarter, the Lyncs had a 51-41 lead over Wapato.

Poag also broke the single-season record for three-pointers in this game. Her 66 three-pointers surpassed Paige TeVelde’s record of 64 set in 2020. It has been a great week for record-breaking stats by the LC team.

Reganne Arnold was another important contributor to the Lync's win. She provided a presence down low and added eight inside points and six rebounds.

LC reaching the state championship game for the fth consecutive year is an incredible feat and a rematch in the title game will be something to witness.

2A boys semi nals: No. 6 Lynden vs. No. 7 Prosser e Lions are headed back to their second straight 2A state championship game. Last year, they defeated Pullman in the championship, but this year they will see Mark Morris.

Lynden used a huge three-point display to coast by Prosser 60-42.

While the Lions shot 12-30 from the three-point line, Prosser could not seem to make a three-point shot fall. e Mustangs shot a dismal 4-20 from beyond the arc and it was their undoing in the loss against Lynden.

Senior Kobe Baar was almost perfect from the eld in the Lion's semi nal win. He scored 16 points on 6-7 shooting to help guide Lynden to a victory. Baar said they just fell into a three-point shooting rhythm and it helped carry them through the game.

Sophomore Brant Heppner also lit it up from the three-point line. He opened the game with two threes in a row to give the Lions an early 6-3 lead. On the night, Heppner had 14 points, four rebounds, one block and two steals.

Across the board, Lynden junior Anthony Canales had the most complete game. He scored 16 points and added six rebounds and ve assists. He was tied for the most points scored in the game and contributed the most assists.

While the Lions had a nice rst half the second was even more dominant. ey outscored Prosser 26-12 in the third quarter and put the game away early.

Lynden had their reserves in the game about midway through the fourth quarter to close out the win against Prosser.

Mark Morris defeated Pullman by three in the semi nals to advance to the state championship game. Mark Morris is a smaller team but they have three skilled guards that can wreak havoc on opposing defenses.

Lynden head coach Brian Roper said it is humbling to be in the position of reaching another state championship game.

“We are excited for the opportunity, but it is de nitely a humbling experience,” Roper said

1A boys semi nal: No. 1 Lynden Christian vs. No. 6 Prosser e 1A title game will feature LC and Kings High School for the third straight year. e two teams are 1-1 in their matchups over the past few years, so the third matchup will be the tiebreaker. e Lyncs had other ideas, they outscored Toppenish 20-11 in the second quarter and held a 38-26 lead going into halftime.

YAKIMA — Lynden Christian is going back to the 1A state championship game for the third consecutive year after a commanding 82-60 win over Toppenish on Friday, March 3.

In 2020, Kings beat LC by three, but the Lyncs came back strong in 2022 to defeat Kings by three. It has been a very even matchup and will make for a big showdown in the title game.

LC junior Jeremiah Wright was the most important piece in the Lync's seminal win. Wright had 23 points on 10-15 shooting, 10 rebounds and one assist. Toppenish did not have the size to handle Wright in the paint.

Wright said it feels great to be back in the championship and he is excited to contribute in a title game.

Wright had a big day, but there were multiple LC players that contributed to the win. LC senior Tyler Sipma had 16 points on 6-10 shooting, four rebounds and three assists.

Senior Dawson Bouma stu ed the stat sheet with 14 points, ve rebounds and four assists.

Senior Gri n Dykstra was quiet on o ense, but on defense, he led the team with three blocks.

Toppenish stuck around in for the rst eight minutes of the game. ey were only down three going into the second quarter and it looked like it would be close throughout.

By the half, Wright was already up to 12 points and seven rebounds. Toppenish had spurts of life in the third quarter, led by Shane Rivera and Josh Perez. ey each nished the game with 18 points and gave LC the most trouble on defense. e game got out of hand in the second half. LC did not slow down and coasted through the rest of the semi nal matchup.

LC head coach Tim Zylstra said they had some size advantage and had to take advantage against Toppenish.

“Our game plan was to attack,” Zylstra said. “I guess we went old school, we went inside out.”