The Lynden Lions girls and boys teams both won District Championships on Wednesday night, by nearly identical scores. The wins assure both programs of state tournament berths in this year’s extremely tight district tournament format.
The wins allow both to sit back and await regional matchups on Friday or Saturday, February 23 or 24. Based on current RPI rankings for both, neither should be lower than a #2 seed.
2A Girls Championship: Lynden 66, Archbishop Murphy 45
The Lynden Lions won their fourth district title in the last five tournaments, as they dominated the Archbishop Murphy Wildcats in the second half, and cruised to a 66-45 victory, Wednesday night, at Mount Vernon High School.
A first half was similar to a game of H-O-R-S-E between Lynden freshman Finley Parcher and Archbishop Murphy sophomore Brooke Blachly. Parcher hit her first seven shots, including two 3-pointers from the right wing, and scored the Lions first 13 points, and was up to 17 at halftime.
Blachly countered that by scoring 11 first-quarter points, and 19 by halftime, tossing in four 3-pointers.
The teams stayed within a bucket of each other through the first half, with the Lions holding a narrow 33-32 lead.
In the second half, the Lions went to a zone defense and did a much better job of staying close to Blachly and limiting penetration from the Wildcats offense. In fact, the Lions gave up only 13 points to the Wildcats in the entire second half, and limited Blachly to only two second half free throws.
The Lions distanced themselves from the Wildcats quickly in the third quarter. Parcher scored the first bucket off an assist from sophomore Payton Mills. Then Mills had two inside scores sandwiched around a 3-pointer. Senior forward Haylee Koetje added a 3-point shot as part of the Lions 14-2 run to start the second half.
Blachly finished with 21 points, as the only Wildcat in double-figures and only four players in the scoring column. The 45 points is a season low on offense for the Wildcats.
Parcher’s 25 led the Lions, with Mills scoring 14 of her 18 points in the second half. Koetje added eight, and freshman guard Lexi Hermanutz added seven off the bench.
The Lions await their regional seeding, which will be released by the WIAA on Sunday. The Wildcats will play Saturday at MVHS, for the second state berth. They will play the winner of Thursday’s game between Sehome and Burlington-Edison. That takes place at 530p at MVHS.
2A Boys Championship: Lynden 64, Cedarcrest 43
The two-time defending champions will get to do just that. In a game with more than just a state berth on the line, the Lynden Lions rolled to a 64-43 win over a very good team from Cedarcrest, for their fourth district title in the last five tournaments.
The intriguing part of this year’s tournament, is that it’s so crowded at the top. A loss in the championship game this year, means you are not done, as it did in the past, when the district had three state allocations. Because of the rotation of numbers, there is one less spot from District 1 this year.
Through the first four minutes, both teams had trouble finding the nets that were so scorched from the first half of the girls game. The Lions managed to hit only one of their first six free throws in the first four minutes, and tied the game at 4-4 on a put back by senior forward Ty Holleman with 3:25 to go in the first quarter.
At 6-6, the Lions scored seven straight on two free throws by Holleman, and steal and score by Anthony Canales, and a 3-pointer by Charlie Ayres.
Canales went to the bench for a few minutes following his second foul, early in the second quarter. But the Lions kept the lead, and upon his return, Canales scored nine straight points for the Lions as they increased their lead to 28-13, late in the first half.
The Red Wolves battled their own foul trouble among their starters. That, and the Lions smothering half-court defense, never letting the Red Wolves get comfortable at the offensive end.
But while the Lions continued to keep a double-digit lead throughout the second half, it never seemed safe, knowing the potential of the Red Wolves.
Canales’ 14 points led all players at halftime, and he more than doubled that in the second half.
He scored the Lions first eight points of the third quarter, and ten of their 14 in the period. The Red Wolves kept pace, but the Lions always had the answer for each little run by the Red Wolves.
The Lions put the clamps on Cedarcrest scorers Alex Amaral, Jack LeBlanc, and Murphy Vliem. The only one who could get loose was their lightning quick point guard, Adam Rawlings, who scored ten points in each half. Rawlings is small in stature, but a handful on the basketball floor, with a combination of 3-pointers and drives into the key.
Rawlings cut a fourth quarter lead by the Lions from 16 to 11 on a bucket and a 3-pointer. But Canales answered with seven straight for the Lions, pushing the lead to 57-40 with 3:19 left.
Canales scored 33 points for the Lions, with Ayres adding nine. Brant Heppner finished with eight, and Holleman put in seven, off the bench.
Canales had two 33-point games in the tournament, averaging 25.3 in the Lions three games.
Vliem had seven points for the Red Wolves, with LeBlanc and Amaral scoring six points each. The 43 points was the lowest output for Cedarcrest this season.
While the Lions take a break until regional play, Cedarcrest falls to the winner to state game on Saturday, at 715pm, at MVHS. The Red Wolves will play the winner of Thursday’s elimination game between Lakewood and Anacortes.
~ Ted House
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