Over & Back, 2026

Six basketball programs represented the Northwest Conference in 1A and 2A boys and girls state tournaments in the Yakima County SunDome last week.  Two won state championships and brought home the big Gold Ball.  One of them has had it in their possession for quite a while.  In fact, longer than any other team has ever had it.  The other reclaimed the Gold Ball after a two-year absence.

The Lynden Lion girls will have the Gold

Ball in their possession for the third straight year, as they dispatched the three “next best” teams in the 2A girl’s tournament, on their way to their third straight title. 

The Lions 27-0 record is on top of a 28-0 record last season.  Add 20 straight wins to finish the 2023-24 season, and they sit on 75 straight wins until December.  They are 82-1 over the last three seasons.  This is their sixth state title since winning their first in 2009.  All six under the direction of head coach, Rob Adams.

The Lynden Christian boys finished the season with a 25-game winning streak and a 26-1 record.  Their name will go back on the Gold Ball as 1A boy’s champions in 2026.  They won back-to-back championships in 2022 and 2023, and finished third place in 2024, and runner-up last year. 

Tim Zylstra just finished his sixth season as the Lyncs head coach.  There was no post-season in his first season that was played in the spring of 2021.  In the five full seasons after that, he has led the Lyncs to three state championships, along with a second and third place.

While those two teams were highly successful, they didn’t take home all the glory.

The Nooksack Valley boys broke through for their first state tournament appearance 2011 but were eliminated in the round of 12 by the Seattle Christian Warriors.  The Pioneers finished with an 11-15 record. 

The Lynden Lion boys, who can call the SunDome their second home, also lost in round of 12, to the Renton RedHawks.  It was their second straight trip home without a trophy after eight straight years in the hardware, including five championships during that time.  The Lions finished the 2025-26 season with an 18-8 record.

The Lynden Christian Lyncs girls fifth place trophy was their 21^st straight year in the hardware.  The Lyncs went 23-5 this season, and it was their eighth straight appearance in the state semifinals.

The Anacortes Seahawks finished off a 23-5 season with a third-place finish in the 2A boys state tournament, under second year head coach, AJ Yost.  They defeated Tumwater to reach the semifinals, where they then lost to RA Long.  The Seahawks rebounded on Saturday to edge Columbia River. 

The first thing that gets analyzed on “state bracket Sunday” is, what did the seeding committee get messed up?  This year, the answer was “not much.”  Remember, if they were perfect, we wouldn’t have to play the games.

However, two of the committees were very close.

In the 1A girls and boy’s tournaments, the top six seeds all ended up in the top six, playing on Saturday.

In 1A girls, #4 Annie Wright finished fourth, while #6 Bellevue Christian ended up sixth.  #1 Kings and #2 Zillah reversed themselves, as the Leopards beat the Knights for the title.  The same thing was true for #3 Lynden Christian finished fifth, and #5 Royal finished third.

The 1A boy’s tournament had a similar theme.  #2 Lynden Christian beat #1 Zillah for the title.  #3 Royal took third.  After that, #4 Bear Creek took sixth; #5 Annie Wright took fourth; and #6 Kings took fifth. 

In the 2A girl’s tournament, the top four seeds all placed, but only #1 Lynden finished where they started.  #2 Deer Park came back to take fourth place after a loss to Lynden on Thursday.  #3 Prosser lost to the Lions in the championship, and #4 Clarkston took fifth.

The depth of teams in the CWAC was on display, as after second-place Prosser, #7 Ellensburg slipped into third and #8 Selah finished sixth.  #4 Archbishop Murphy and #6 WF West did not make it to Saturday. 

The 2A boy’s tournament was the most unpredictable but was not as upside down as it was last year when #10 Prosser reached the championship game.

#1 Bremerton and #2 RA Long held serve, but for the Knights, their road to the championship was nearly derailed, twice.  More on that later.

#3 Selah and #4 Pullman did not place, as #6 Anacortes and #5 Tumwater took those trophies, respectively.  #7 Grandview took sixth place, and the party crasher, #11 Columbia River, came in fifth. 

When it was over, the top seeds in 2A boys and 2A girls won state championships.  The #2 seeds in the 1A boys and 1A girl’s tournaments took titles.  Three of the tournaments had the top two seeds playing for the title, while the 2A girls had the #1 and #3 seeds in the championship game.   

The word going into the 2A boy’s tournament was, like last year, it would be Bremerton, then everybody else.  Well, the Knights took their second straight title, but it was nothing like last year.

After a win over Grandview, the Knights met Columbia River in the semifinals.  The #11 Rapids got a win over #4 Pullman in the quarterfinals, and had a 19-7 record, with three losses coming to undefeated league rival, RA Long by a total of 12 points.

On the 50-year anniversary of the “Six-Iron Lyncs,” who had to play six players in their final two state tournament games, I thought of a very loose comparison to this year's Columbia River team. (It's a bit of a stretch, but it was a way to include the 50-year anniversary).

In the Rapids round of 12 win over Selah, the game went into overtime.  Three Rapids players played all 36 minutes.  Two others played 32 and 26 minutes, leaving two reserves to play eight and seven minutes. 

The next day, they played Pullman in the quarterfinals.  The Rapids won a close game, 54-48.  Four starters played all 32 minutes.  One starter played 26 minutes, and one reserve played six minutes.

Even with all that, the Rapids still had enough to push Bremerton to overtime in the semifinals.  In that game, a 55-54 win by Bremerton, four Columbia River starters played all 36 minutes.  One reserve was on the floor for four minutes. 

Junior guard, and state tournament MVP, Jalen Davis of Bremerton, scored a 3-point play with 15 seconds left in regulation to tie the game.  Both teams scored only six points in the fourth quarter. 

The Rapids were leading 54-53 in the final seconds but missed two free throws.  The Knights called timeout on the rebound with 3.3 seconds left, with the ball on their baseline.

The Rapids played a little too tight in back court, and Davis took a perfect inbounds pass on the run up the right sideline.  He maneuvered around a defender at mid court and raced to the rim.  The ball left his right hand just before the horn sounded, and kissed off the glass for the win, sending the Knights to the finals.

Against Anacortes on Saturday, the Rapids added a few minutes off the bench in the first half and outscored the Seahawks 44-34.  But the starters played nearly every second of the second half, which may have led to the Seahawks 18-6 advantage in the fourth quarter, and their 67-63 come-from-behind win for third place.

On championship night, the Knights found themselves in another tussle against still undefeated, #2 RA Long. 

The Lumberjacks led 35-34 entering the fourth quarter.  And with 3:30 play, found themselves leading 43-38.  After that, the Lumberjacks went into more of a delay mode, than continuing to attack and with 50 seconds left, the Knights tied the game at 43-43 with a 3-point shot.

More empty possessions, and the Knights finally got the ball to Davis with seven seconds left.  He drove from the right wing and was fouled on the shot near the baseline.  Had he not been fouled, it would have been a tough shot, with his momentum going toward the baseline. 

With 4.4 seconds left, he swished both free throws, and the Knights prevailed.  And they will be the top dog again through next season, as the Knights will graduate only two seniors.

Speaking of rosters, both floors had a majority of teams that were on the young side. 

In 2A girls, Prosser had two seniors and Selah had three.  1A girls’ teams, Lynden Christian loses three seniors while Zillah loses two. 

Bremerton loses just two seniors from their two-time championship team.  Renton had three seniors, West Valley-Spokane had two.  Tumwater had two seniors, but their starters were all juniors. 

1A boys Royal loses two seniors and started four juniors and a freshman.  Annie Wright had three seniors, while Chelan graduates two seniors and only one senior starter.  The Lyncs lose three seniors, but return their top three scorers, all juniors, including the state tourney MVP, Dawson Hintz, and first-teamer, Gunnar Dykstra.

The 1A boys’ All-Tournament team, led by Hintz and Dykstra, had two other juniors on the team, Grant Wardenaar from Royal, and Conner Jensen from The Bear Creek School.  The lone senior was Zillah’s Dekker Van De Graaf. 

Lynden Christian’s Kaden Veldman was a second team selection as a junior.  The rest of the second team consisted of juniors, Budda Aranda of Zillah, and Dax Jenks of Royal.  Senior’s Lucas Faletto of Chelan and Dozie Asinobi of Kings, and sophomore Grant Collier of Seattle Christian rounded out the six-man Second Team.

Senior Kaleo Anderson was the unanimous choice for the 1A girls Most Valuable Player for second place, Kings.  Champion Zillah had juniors June Fiander and Makenna Klitzke on the first team.

Junior Tara Dykstra of Lynden Christian and senior Aaliyeh Martin of Annie Wright rounded out the first team.

The second team included two freshmen, Emily Hoffman of Bellevue Christian and Lauren Wardenaar of Royal.  Junior Graycie Kast of Royal and seniors Kaitlin Cramer of Kings and Kiana Skogstad of Bellevue Christian were also voted onto the Second Team.

The 2A girls’ All-Tournament team was made up of five juniors.  Finley Parcher of the champion Lions was the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.  The rest of the first team consisted of Herbie Wright of Prosser, Ashlan Bryant of Deer Park, Bella Standish of Ellensburg, and Elise Kingston of Selah. 

There were six members of the Second Team.  The five seniors were Lynden’s Payton Mills, Deidre Phillips of Prosser, Emma Bryant of Deer Park, Brook Blachly of Archbishop Murphy, and Zia-Daye Anderson of Nathan Hale.  The lone junior was Dilyn Boeck of WF West.

Zia-Daye Anderson of #11 Nathan Hale broke the single game scoring record by netting 52 points in Hale’s round of 12 win over #6 WF West, 83-71, in overtime.  It was the Raiders first ever state tournament win in their first ever state tournament appearance.  However, the next day, the Raiders ran into #4 Clarkston, and lost 63-30, with Anderson scoring only four points.

The 2A boys’ All-Tournament team was senior heavy, except for junior Jalen Davis of Bremerton, who won the MVP award for the second straight year.

Micah Dickison of Anacortes was named to the first team, along with Josh Crane of RA Long, Luca Phillips of Columbia River, and Francisco Medina of Grandview. 

My favorite player to watch all week was Medina.  The 5-9 (which may be a stretch) senior point guard for the Greyhounds was injured early in the season and the Greyhounds lost their first four games. 

The Greyhounds were second to Selah in the CWAC, but beat the Vikings in the district championship game. 

As a point guard, the ball never appeared to leave Medina’s hand.  As a jump shooter, no one is better.  He rises off the floor with a tremendous vertical jump, and has great accuracy and range.  He never comes off the floor, and no one competes harder.  The Greyhounds also pushed Bremerton into the third quarter of their quarterfinal game, before the Knights pulled away for an 18-point win. 

Speaking of 18-point wins, where was all the drama this year? 

On the 2A girls’ floor, the average margin of victory was 19 points.  I thought that might be rather high, for a state tournament, but it was one point closer than last year’s average.  On the final day of the 2A girl’s tournament, the margins were 10, 14, and 20 points. 

The 1A girl’s games had a 12-point difference, same as last year.  The Lyncs had a double-overtime game with Annie Wright.  (I only count regulation scores, so overtimes are a “zero” point difference). 

1A boy’s games had a 16-point difference, a 3-pointer more than last year.  The widest margin of victory on Saturday was the Lyncs 19-point difference in the championship win over Zillah.  The Lyncs closest game in Yakima was their 63-54 win over Kings.  Before that, they hammered Seattle Christian, 84-56.

Turns out, there was some drama.  It was on the 2A boy’s floor. 

Last year the games had an average of a 16-point differential.  This year, it was only six points.

There were three games that went overtime.  The first two games on Wednesday, and the semifinal between Bremerton and Columbia River.  The Rapids had two overtime games as we discussed their minutes earlier. 

On the final day, all three games were tight.  The placing games were decided by one and four points, followed by a 2-pointer in the championship game. 

Final thoughts on the Lynden girls and Lynden Christian boys.

Their championships gives the Northwest Conference a total of 29 state titles in 1A and 2A boys and girls since the NWC began in 2006-07. 

The Lynden boys have seven championships since 2006-07.  The Lynden girls have six.  The Lynden Christian girls have six, and the Lynden Christian boys have five. 

The other five are Squalicum boys with two championships, as well as the Nooksack Valley girls.  The Mount Baker girls have one.

In order to be that successful, there are many factors in play that have to come together.  It’s more than talent and coaching, but those are obvious qualities.  As talented as many of our NWC teams have been, they also include some incredible coaching staffs. 

Due to time constraints and long lines, I was only able to facilitate the drinking of a single 32-ounce Gabby’s Lemonade (triple berry), but it was well worth it.  Scheduling leaves little time for extra eats, but the Yakima Bob’s Burgers & Brew was available for lunch.  Twice. 

Again this year, the most fun was interacting with the other local media members from our area.  I know you enjoy the rest of the gang as much as I do.  We bring you coverage of your favorites, but all in a little different way.  Jim Carberry of WhatcomHoops.com; Tyler Anderson of WhatcomPreps.com, and the radio crew from KPUG, Jason, Rick, Randy, and Dan.  Always a pleasure! 

If you get something out of this site, please spread the word.

It seems like light years away right now, but I can’t wait for the 2026-27 season.  I hope you feel the same way.

~ Ted House