The Lynden Christian Lyncs breezed past the Zillah Leopards, 61-42, to capture the 1A Boys State Basketball Championship, Saturday night, in the Yakima SunDome.   It was the first loss of the season for the Leopards, and the eighth championship in program history for the Lyncs.  Both teams end the season with 26-1 records.   It was the usual stars for the Lyncs on the scoresheet, as the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, junior Dawson Hintz, scored 18 points, with guard tande

3rd Place for the Seahawks in 2026 What they couldn’t do yesterday, they did today.   The Anacortes Seahawks overcame a 15-point first half deficit, and edged the Columbia River Rapids, 67-63, to capture third place in the 2026 2A State Basketball Tournament, Saturday, at the Yakima Valley SunDome.    The Seahawks never had the lead until senior guard Gunner Willoughby hit a 3-point shot from the right wing with 3:45 to play in the game.  A few seconds later, senior guard Luc

Seahawks junior Ryan Harrington The undefeated, and #2 seeded RA Long Lumberjacks got past the #6 seeded Anacortes Seahawks, 53-49, Friday night in the 2A state semifinals in the Yakima SunDome.   The Lumberjacks were on the attack as the ball left the referee’s hand on the opening tip.  Showing off their strength, speed, and aggressiveness, that brought them to the semis with a perfect 26-0 record.    The Jacks forced the Seahawks to call two early timeouts, trailing 9-3 in

The Lynden Christian Lyncs are back in the 1A state championship game for the second year in a row.  A strong second half pushed them past the Kings Knights, 63-54, in Friday night’s semifinals in the Yakima SunDome.   After losing last year’s title game to Annie Wright, this will be the Lyncs fifth championship game appearance in the last six tournaments.    After the Lyncs served up a quick 10-2 start, with junior forward Kaden Veldman responsible for eight of those points,

The Lynden Lions are down to one game away from their third consecutive 2A state championship.  They put a defensive straight jacket on the Clarkston Bantams, in a 50-30 win in the state semifinals, Friday evening in the Yakima SunDome.   After eight minutes, it would have been hard to believe that either team would reach 50 points.   The Bantams scored first, and it held up for over four minutes before the Lions tied the score on an inside bucket by senior forward Rian Steph

The Anacortes Seahawks are headed for the 2A boys state semifinals, after a 71-61 win over the Tumwater Thunderbirds.  It will be the Seahawks first semifinal appearance since their second-place finish in 2015.  They are also assured of their first state tournament hardware since 2017.   The Thunderbirds scored six quick points on two 3-point shots which prompted a Seahawks timeout just 90 seconds into the game.  That would be all the scoring Tumwater could accomplish in the

The Lynden Christian Lyncs sprinted past the Seattle Christian Warriors, 84-56, in the quarterfinals of the 1A Boys state tournament, Thursday, in the Yakima SunDome.   The win puts the Lyncs into the semifinals for the sixth consecutive year.   The Lyncs got out to a quick 10-2 lead as the Warriors didn’t net a field goal until the 4:15 mark of the first period.  But once they did, they engineered a run of their own and took a 13-11 lead.  The quarter ended with a 3-point sh

Lion senior Rian Stephan The Lynden Lions cleared their first hurdle in the race for a third straight 2A Girls state championship by dismantling the Deer Park Stags, 58-33, Thursday, in a state quarterfinal game in the Yakima Valley SunDome.    It was pitted as the “early state championship” as it was the #2 seeded Stags against the #1 seeded Lions, but the Lions ended the suspense with a 20-3 run in the third quarter.   Before that, it was a defensive chess match at the star

The Renton RedHawks defeated the Lynden Lions, 46-36, in Wednesday’s elimination round of the 2A State basketball tournament, in the Yakima SunDome.   The 36 points by the Lions was their lowest scoring game of the season by 11 points.  On the other hand, the RedHawks beat their previous low score of the season by one point.    In the first quarter ended with the Lions leading 13-12, which was the highest scoring quarter of the game.  The RedHawks were able to drive the lane

The late season run by the Nooksack Valley Pioneers came to an end to the hands of the Seattle Christian Warriors, 78-44, in the elimination Round of 12, in the 1A Boys State Tournament, Wednesday, in the Yakima SunDome.   The #8 seeded Warriors paid no attention to the seeding of the #16 Pioneers, or their 11-14 record as the Pioneers set foot in the SunDome for the first time since 2011.   Through the first few minutes, both teams suffered through missed shots and turnovers

Seahawks celebrate their District Title Two district championships were awarded Friday night at Mount Vernon High School.  The 2A girls title goes the Lynden Lions, as they defeated a tough Archbishop Murphy team, 58-40, for their third straight district title.  On the boy’s side, the Anacortes Seahawks edged the Lynden Lions, 50-47, in the 2A district championship game.   2A Boys: Anacortes 50, Lynden 47   Senior forward Micah Dickison led a Seahawk charge by scoring ten fou

Cougar sophomore Carter Langum The 2A Boys District 1 Tournament has always been the utmost of challenges to squeak through the mass of quality talent and competitive teams, but this year there was an extra element added.   The days of sending three or four teams to state ended in the 2023-24 season when the district’s number of teams fell over the years from twelve teams to ten, then finally to the current count of nine teams in the 2A classification in District 1.    The co

Coaches Kesti and Swanson The Sedro-Woolley Cubs are one win away from a state tournament berth, after their 63-45 win over Mount Vernon, in the consolation round of the 3A Boys District 1 Tournament.   This was a rivalry game in a post-season elimination situation, so the Sedro-Woolley gym was packed with a standing room only crowd, with student sections filling the end zone bleachers.    The Bulldogs zone defense was geared to slow down the league’s top scorer, and in my op

There are two teams remaining in the consolation round of the 2A Boys District Tournament.  Those two survived elimination games on Monday night at Mount Vernon High School.  One came away with a fairly comfortable win, while the other happened in dramatic fashion.   Lakewood 55, Squalicum 41   The Squalicum Storm, entering their district tournament elimination game with a record of 10-11, should be praised for playing their best basketball of the season at the right time.  T

The Bellingham Bayhawks got 28 points from senior forward Joe Harward, in a 66-59 win over Marysville-Pilchuck, in the play-in game of the 2A Boys District 1 Tournament.   The #8 seed Bayhawks move into the tournament’s official first round, with a game at #1 seed, Lynden, Wednesday, at 600pm.    The Tomahawks (5-16) were not at full strength when the two teams met in early December, when the Bayhawks handed them a 71-24 defeat.  This time, they were at full strength, and des

The number of streaks of consecutive points I have seen teams put on each other, many in the same game, has become very noticeable.  Even in the final week of the regular season, between teams discernable by just a basket or two.    Anacortes and Lynden put runs on each other in their game on Tuesday.  Lions Get Past Seahawks...   Then on Wednesday, Burlington-Edison turned around a 21-4 deficit to Bellingham (coming up here), then Anacortes and Lakewood turned the tide on ea

The Lynden Lions passed their first exam of finals week, with a 61-51 win over the Anacortes Seahawks, Tuesday night, at Jake Maberry Gym.    This battle between two of the 2A heavyweights meant the inside track to the top seed in next week’s district tournament.  But as I have said before, I think seed placement in this year’s tournament means less than in most years due to the depth of the entire field.   This game took on a heavy dose of a defensive focus from both benches

The Lynden Christian Lyncs put first place in the Northwest Conference into a headlock with a 70-65 win at Anacortes on Wednesday.    The Lyncs now have a two-game lead on the field with five conference games to play in the regular season.  The win was their fourteenth straight, since a game-two loss at Lake Stevens.   Junior guard Dawson Hintz hit three 3-point shots in the opening quarter to pace the Lyncs to a 17-13 lead after eight minutes.  By halftime, Hintz had 15 poin

This week, there are nine Northwest Conference games involving same-classification teams.  It’s a good week to get read on the order of finish, headed into their respective district tournaments.    On Wednesday night In Lynden, the Lions broke away from the Sehome Mariners early in the third quarter, on their way to an important 51-39 win.    As of this night, six of the seven 2A teams have conference records above .500, which puts them in the top eight in the league.   Mount

Gabe Galbraith was on fire for the Trojans Nooksack Valley and Meridian have had some great battles in the last few years, and you can add Monday night’s match up in Laurel to the list.    Junior guard Pierce Brzozowski sank a free throw with “point-four” seconds left to give the Trojans a 64-63 win over the Pioneers.    After an inside score by Pioneer junior forward Dane Ackerman that tied the game at 63-63 with 12 seconds left, Brzozowski ran the dribble into front court w