MOUNT VERNON — The Pioneers are headed straight to the state quarterfinals.
The top-seeded Nooksack Valley girls romped past No. 8 Bellevue Christian in the regional round, 65-16, at Mount Vernon High School Friday night, earning a first-round bye in the 1A state tournament.
NV knocked down 10 buckets from beyond the arc, led by a game-high 16 points from junior guard Devin Coppinger.
Senior sharp-shooting guard Hallie Kamphouse added 14 points on four 3-pointers while junior guard Kaylee Anderson finished with 12 points, all on makes from deep. Junior guard/post Lainey Kimball added 10 points for NV, rounding out the Pioneers’ notable scorers.
“We’ve got a lot of people that can hit shots,” NV coach Shane Wichers said. “Kaylee [Anderson] shot the ball great tonight, Hallie [Kamphouse] shot the ball great tonight. We had some good stuff inside. It’s all kind of clicking.”
It was lopsided from the opening jump as the Pioneers held Bellevue Christian to one made field goal in each of the game’s first three quarters.
While its defense was stout, NV’s offense was equally as intimidating and efficient.
“We had a really got shooting night, all of us,” Kamphouse said. “We’re going to try to keep attacking, but [the] 3 is a great weapon for us.”
A methodically dominant first quarter by NV saw Bellevue Christian make one field goal, while Kamphouse closed out the period with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer. Kamphouse had nine first-half points on three triples.
Coppinger clamped up the Vikings’ point guard one possession after another, never allowing Bellevue Christian to regularly set up its offense.
The 5-foot-10 guard finished with a game-high 11 first-half points.
NV was able to get its entire bench into the game in the first half, leading 37-7 after two quarters and allowing the Vikings to make just two shots from the field.
“We got to use a lot of our bench, which was great,” Kamphouse said. “Everyone came off the bench ready and focused.”
The mismatch between the Pioneers and Vikings was especially apparent on one particular possession when NV pulled down five offensive rebounds, scoring on its sixth shot attempt.
Kamphouse drained her second quarter-ending, buzzer-beating 3-pointer of the game at the end of the third quarter, as the Pioneers entered the fourth leading 54-10.
The Vikings scored six points on NV in the fourth quarter.
Bellevue Christian was led by five points apiece from freshmen guards Kianna Skogstad and Olivia Reynolds.
NV moved to 24-1 on the season, earning a first-round bye in the 1A state tournament at the Yakima Valley SunDome. The Pioneers will play a yet-to-be-determined opponent in the quarterfinals at 10:30 a.m., Thursday, March 2.
“That was the goal, obviously,” Wichers said of not having to play Wednesday. “It gives you one less day on the court there, and so it’s huge.”
Bellevue Christian fell to 21-2, now having to trudge through the loser-out round-of-12 on Wednesday, March 1, to move on to the quarterfinals.
