EVERSON — Friday’s matchup between No. 1 Nooksack Valley and No. 2 Lynden Christian had all the hype and fanfare of a late-postseason game you could expect. The only difference is it’s still the first week of the playoffs.
It’s not too often the top two teams in the state are meeting in the district championship, but there also aren’t many counties in the state with the kind of talent Whatcom County has.
So, cue the February madness.
The Lyncs avenged their regular season loss to the Pioneers with a 54-51 win to claim the District 1 title and snap Nooksack Valley’s 12-game win streak.
“It certainly wasn’t the prettiest game at times, but I’m just really pleased with our grit and togetherness for four quarters tonight,” Lyncs coach Brady Bomber said.
Lynden Christian led 14-10 after the first quarter, but turnovers in the second prevented the Lyncs from pulling away from the Pioneers.
Lynden Christian’s Libby Stump and Nooksack Valley’s Taylor Lentz battle for the ball during Friday’s game. (Andy Bronson/Cascadia Daily News)
Meanwhile, Nooksack Valley was starting to find a little bit of flow on offense. The Lyncs led 22-19 after two quarters.
Lynden Christian and Nooksack Valley traded baskets and the lead for much of the third quarter, but a clutch 3-pointer from senior Libby Stump in the final minute gave the Lyncs a 40-38 lead.
With all the momentum in the final quarter, Lynden Christian began to capitalize, pushing the lead to as many as nine in the last eight minutes of the game.
There’s a reason Nooksack Valley came into the game the No. 1 team in the state, though.
Nooksack Valley’s Devin Coppinger stumbles over Lynden Christian’s Daisy Poag after stealing the ball. Lynden Christian beat Nooksack Valley 54-51 in a girls district basketball game on Feb. 11. (Andy Bronson/Cascadia Daily News)
The Pioneers crawled back with a 6-0 run, capped by a basket from senior Tehya Moore. Nooksack Valley trailed 53-51 with 30 seconds left in the game, but wouldn’t find the basket again, giving the Lyncs the victory.
Stump had a lot running through her mind during the game’s last 30 seconds.
“Get a stop, try to score, take as much time off the clock, don’t lose, don’t lose, try to win,” Stump said of the final stretch. “We were just focusing and trying to get the win.”
Having played each other earlier in the season, there was plenty on film to learn from, but Bomber said the more you play a team, the harder it is to fool them with what you want to do.
“We’ve been playing each other for so long that we both have an identity of what we do,” he said. “They had a couple little actions that were different, but for the most part, there’s not a lot of secrets between us. It’s just two pretty talented teams competing and it came down to one or two possessions.”
Stump was the leading scorer in the game with 20 points. Freshman Grace Hintz added 12 for the Lyncs and senior Charley Dykstra added eight of her own.
Lynden Christian’s Grace Hintz scores a basket as Nooksack Valley’s Tehya Moore tries to block. Lynden Christian beat Nooksack Valley 54-51 in a girls district basketball game on Feb. 11. (Andy Bronson/Cascadia Daily News)
Hintz called the game the best of the season and said it will only help when the stage gets bigger the further they move along in the postseason.
Nooksack Valley sophomore Devin Coppinger attracted plenty of attention from the Lyncs’ defense, but she still led the Pioneers in scoring with 12 points.
“Devin is such a talented player,” Bomber said. “She was so special against us last time, but you just want to try and make it hard. You certainly can’t take away everything from a player that talented.”
The win means Lynden Christian won’t play again until Feb. 19 against the No. 5 seed out of District 2 at King’s High School. The winner of that will advance to regionals while the loser is out.
Nooksack Valley will have one more chance to move on to the District 1/2 crossover with Lynden Christian. The Pioneers will host Meridian Tuesday in a loser-out game.
Pioneers coach Shane Wichers said what happened against Lynden Christian doesn’t matter with another game on deck.
“You can’t change anything now, so we have to walk away from this with our head held high,” Wichers said. “We played the best we could and they got us tonight, but we have to get ready for Meridian on Tuesday.”
The winner of that game will advance and play the No. 4 seed out of District 2 while the loser is out.
