Anacortes Boys & Lynden Girls Take District Titles
- Ted House
- 2 hours ago
- 5 min read
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 fourth quarter points, as the Seahawks took the 2A district championship, 50-47, over the Lynden Lions.
The fourth quarter began with the Lions holding a 42-34 lead, but the Seahawk defense held the Lions to just five points over the final eight minutes. The Lions final points of the game came at the 3:13 mark, as senior forward Spencer Adams scored to give the Lions a 47-44 lead.
After a Lion timeout, Dickison hit a tough 3-point shot around the defense of Lynden 6-7 senior, Ty Jorgenson, to tie the score at 47-47. The 6-4 Dickison had battled Jorgenson, back-and-forth all night. Jorgenson had blocked a few shots and the two had battled with hard fouls and falls to the hardwood. But when dust had settled, they often offered a hand of support to each other.
With just over two minutes left, Jorgenson had the ball outside the arc on the right wing. He drove to the rim against Seahawk 6-5 junior guard, Spencer Roberts. When the two reached the backboard, Roberts swallowed up Jorgenson’s lay-in attempt, and raced the ball the other direction. He found Dickison in transition for a lay-in, giving the Seahawks a 49-47 lead.
The teams exchanged several empty possessions until the game came down to the final opportunity for the Lions to send the game to overtime, or pull out a win.
The ball went to Adams at the high post, under the tight defense, as it had been all game, of Seahawk senior, Brennan Morganthaler. As Adams began to maneuver for the tying shot in the final seconds, the ball got knocked loose, ending up in the hands of Dickison. He was fouled, and added a free throw, giving the Seahawks a 50-47 lead with 1.3 seconds left.
The only chance for the Lions was a long toss deep, but the Seahawks only allowed an inbounds pass to Adams in back court. His long heave was well off the mark as the horn sounded.
The Seahawks outscored the Lions 16-5 in the fourth quarter, which reversed the Lions 18-5 advantage over the Seahawks in the third quarter.
For Lynden, Jorgenson scored 11 points in the third quarter and 21 for the game, as the only Lion in double-figures. The Seahawks had Dickison with 14, and junior guard Lucas Roberts with 10.
Some of the most important points for the Seahawks came from senior guard Gunnar Willoughby, who hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the second quarter to give the Seahawks an eight-point lead. He had all eight of his points in the second quarter.
The Seahawks also got six big points from junior forward Ryan Harrington, who had six of his seven points of the bench in the first half. Big scores from role players are huge to fill the gaps when the leading scorers are the defensive focus.
I wouldn’t call this a game of “runs,” but more like a game of “stops.” Both teams played their own brand of tight, aggressive, man-to-man defense. Several times the ball was knocked loose, and it was every man for himself until it was secured. Imagine the ball was a thousand-dollar bill, being blown in the wind in the middle of ten rugby players. And through all that, the teams have a deep respect for each other, and let sportsmanship be on display.
The win by Anacortes (20-4) broke a ten-game losing streak to Lynden (17-7). When I researched their recent history, I had to put on my Santa hat and check it twice. I imagined, because of all the great games they had played in recent times, the wins and losses were more even.
Now, they await seeding by the WIAA 2A tournament committee, which will be revealed on Sunday. Each committee uses different metrics to seed the 16 qualifying teams. Before the game, the Seahawks had the #6 ranking in the 2A RPI, with Lynden as #12. After the game, the Seahawks are now #5, and Lynden is #10. A very strong case could be (should be) made for the Seahawks to be no worse than fourth in the final seeding. The same should be said for Lynden to end up in the top eight.
In any event, these two proud programs will represent well. The conference will add a third team to the state tournament mix if Lakewood can go on the road on Saturday, and get a win at Prosser. The Cougars and Mustangs will play at 2pm, at Prosser High School, which will be available on the NFHS Network.
2A Girls: Lynden 58, Archbishop Murphy 40
The Lynden Lions won their third straight district championship, and their 71st straight game overall, with their 58-40 win over Archbishop Murphy.
The two top scorers in the game were the best players on the floor and the focus of the oppositions defense.
Brooke Blachly, a Santa Clara University commit, and 2000-point career scorer for the Wildcats, was locked up with a Lion defender for the entire 32 minutes, but was still able to create a few inches of space to hit seven 3-pointers and score 29 of her team’s 40 points.
On the other end, Lynden junior Finley Parcher, scored 25 points, and would come up with several big shots any time her team needed it.
Because Blachly is such a dangerous shooter, the leads the Lions had never really seemed comfortable until the fourth quarter.
After an even first quarter, in which Blachly ended with a 30-footer at the buzzer, the Lions pulled away to a 30-19 halftime lead. Parcher and University of Hawaii commit, Lion senior Payton Mills, combined for 11 second quarter points, as the Lions outscored the Wildcats 18-7.
The Lions built a lead of 37-19 early in the third quarter, before the Wildcats finished on an 11-4 run, to trail 41-30 after three quarters.
Blachly hit two 3-pointers early in the fourth quarter to cut the Lions lead to 41-35, but that’s when Parcher took over, scoring 10 fourth quarter points in a variety of ways, as the Lions pushed the lead to 20 points in the final minutes.
Expect the Lions (23-0) to be the top seed to the 2A girls state tournament. The Wildcats (18-5), currently the #6 RPI, could also end up in the top four.
~ Ted House
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