Prep basketball district tournaments have begun, with only five Whatcom County teams eliminated in play-in games. Sub-regional wrestling and state bowling wrapped up, while boys swim teams are gearing up for district meets.
A Western Washington University men’s basketball player went viral online from a highlight play in the Vikings’ latest win, and softball kicked off its season in California. Western women’s basketball suffered its first defeat in more than a month.
Here’s an overview of what you may have missed from the last week of winter sports.
Prep
Boys basketball
Mount Vernon was crowned the Northwest Conference champion after Lynden beat Lynden Christian on Saturday, Feb. 3. LC, which was tied for the league lead entering the game, would have had the tiebreaker over Mount Vernon if it beat the Lions.
Since then, district tournaments have begun. Three Whatcom County teams have been eliminated in play-in games thus far: Squalicum, Blaine and Ferndale.
Blaine (4-17) fell to Mount Baker (4-18) on Monday, Feb. 5, having its season ended in the first round of the 1A District 1 tournament after finishing third in the state in Class 1A last season.
Squalicum (9-12) lost in overtime to Archbishop Murphy (7-14), 55-52, on Feb. 5 in a 2A District 1 play-in. The Storm will return its entire roster next season, as the team had no seniors this year.
Lummi Nation (17-1) has won 17 straight games and is headed to the 1B District 1 championship against Tulalip Heritage — a team it beat 73-47 on Jan. 30. That game is at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 8.
LC (20-2) is the top seed in the 1A District 1 tournament, and the Lyncs beat No. 5 Mount Baker, 78-35, on Wednesday, Feb. 7. The Lyncs will face No. 3 Meridian (11-10) in the district championship at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 10 at Lynden High School.
Nooksack Valley (11-11) is the second seed in the 1A tournament, but the Pioneers lost to Meridian in the district semifinals. NV will now play No. 5 Mount Baker in a loser-out consolation game at 12 p.m. on Feb. 10.
Lynden (18-4) is the top seed in the 2A District 1 tournament, and it beat No. 8 Burlington-Edison (11-12), 81-65, on Feb. 7. The Lions will play No. 4 Lakewood (13-8) at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 9.
No. 5 Bellingham (11-10) lost to No. 4 Lakewood in the quarterfinals, 71-49, and the Bayhawks will now play No. 8 Burlington-Edison in a loser-out consolation game at 5:15 p.m. on Feb. 9.
Sehome (10-11), the No. 6 seed, travelled to No. 3 Anacortes, but the Mariners lost 56-40 to the Seahawks. Sehome will now host No. 10 Archbishop Murphy (7-14) at 7 p.m. on Feb. 9 in a loser-out contest.
Ferndale (7-14) lost to Marysville-Getchell, 76-58, in a 3A District 1 loser-out game. The Golden Eagles will graduate seven seniors.
Girls basketball
Nooksack Valley won its third straight NWC title, edging Lynden by one game. The latter’s only league loss was to NV, while the Pioneers went undefeated in league games. Both teams finished the regular season 20-1 overall.
Only two Whatcom County girls programs had their seasons end: Mount Baker and Bellingham.
Mount Baker (3-18) lost its final 17 games of the regular season, and the Mountaineers were bested by Meridian (6-15) in a 1A District 1 play-in game, 38-25, on Feb. 5. Meridian went on to lose to NV, 83-32, on Feb. 7.
Bellingham (3-17) fell to Lakewood (9-9), 48-28, on Tuesday, Feb. 6 in the play-in round of the 2A District 1 tournament. The Bayhawks had no seniors on the team and 11 of their 12 players were freshmen or sophomores.
Lummi Nation (15-5), the No. 2 seed in the 1B District 1 tournament, is also headed to the district championship, and the Blackhawks will face top-seeded Mount Vernon Christian (19-4) at 6:45 p.m. Feb. 8.
Top-seeded NV will face Lynden Christian in the 1A District 1 championship after No. 2 LC beat No. 3 Blaine (10-11), 74-21, on Feb. 7. Blaine will play Meridian in a loser-out game at 1:45 p.m. on Feb. 10.
In the 2A tournament, top-seeded Lynden will host No. 8 Sedro-Woolley (9-12) at 7 p.m. Feb. 8. Lynden has won 13 in a row.
The only other 2A matchup is No. 5 Squalicum (14-7) visiting No. 4 Sehome (11-6) at 7 p.m. on Feb. 8. Squalicum has been on fire as of late, going 13-2 over its final 15 games. Following a five-game win streak, Sehome lost four of its last five regular season games.
Ferndale (10-10) will head to Monroe (10-10) in an evenly matched 3A District 1 first-round game at 7 p.m. on Feb. 8. Both teams struggled towards the end of the regular season.
WWU
Men’s basketball
Western snapped a three-game losing skid on Saturday, Feb. 3 with a 78-62 win over Western Oregon. The victory followed up a narrow 77-75 loss to No. 7 nationally ranked Saint Martin’s on Thursday, Feb. 1.
In the win, junior guard Kai Johnson led the Vikings with 23 points, nine rebounds and three steals. The highlight for Johnson, however, was his off-the-backboard pass to himself for a one-handed dunk, which went viral online and was No. 3 on ESPN’s Sportscenter Top-10 plays of the day.
Junior forward Nic Welp finished with 17 points, 12 rebounds and three steals, while redshirt freshman guard Tijan Saine (12 points) and junior guard Will Wilson (10) also scored in double figures.
Next up for Western (13-9, 5-6 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) is a home game versus Seattle Pacific (13-11, 6-5 GNAC) at 7 p.m. on Feb. 8.
Women’s basketball
The Vikings had their eight-game win streak snapped in a 77-69 loss to Alaska Anchorage on Feb. 3 — a team that accounts for two of Western’s four losses this season.
Alaska Anchorage junior guard Senya Rabouin scored a game-high 28 points, while Western senior forward Brooke Walling finished with 18 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and three steals.
Junior forward Aspen Garrison tallied 17 points and four rebounds, and sophomore guard Mason Oberg added 14 points and four rebounds.
Despite outscoring Alaska Anchorage 35-33 in the second half, the Vikings’ 10-point halftime deficit proved insurmountable.
Western (17-4, 9-2 GNAC) will now go on the road to Northwest Nazarene (8-10, 5-6 GNAC) at 7 p.m. on Feb. 8.
Softball
Western softball began its season with four straight wins at the CUI Kickoff Classic Feb. 2–4 in Irvine, California.
The Vikings, originally slated to play five games in the tournament, had its first game on Friday, Feb. 2 rained out. They were also supposed to play two games at Biola University on Tuesday, Feb. 6, but had the doubleheader canceled for the same reason.
Through the four games it played, Western outscored its opponents 25-11. The Vikings’ closest game was also its last, beating No. 14 nationally ranked tournament-host Concordia Irvine in a 3-2, 12-inning thriller on Sunday, Feb. 4.
The game was scoreless through 10 innings until junior catcher Emma Andrewjeski’s sacrifice fly in the top of the 11th-scored freshman infielder Maleah Andrews.
Concordia Irvine tied the game in the bottom of the inning before Western freshman outfielder Laila Carpenter and senior outfielder Taylor Khorrami connected on back-to-back extra-base hits in the top of the 12th, scoring a pair of Vikings.
Now trailing 3-1 in the bottom of the 12th, Concordia Irvine senior shortstop Rylie Rohr trimmed the deficit on a sacrifice fly that scored senior outfielder Kaia Nisby.
With two outs and a runner on third, Western freshman pitcher Alli Kimball forced a lineout to center field to end the game.
Kimball earned the win in the circle, her third of the tournament, pitching three innings and allowing three hits and no earned runs while striking out one. Junior pitcher Joie Baker pitched nine innings and allowed five hits, no runs and two walks while striking out three.
Sophomore infielder Hailey Rath, senior infielder Ashley Jacobson and Carpenter all went 2 for 5 at the plate for Western.
Up next for the Vikings is another tournament, this time a five-game slate at the North Bay Challenge in San Rafael, California. Their first game will be against Dominican University of California at noon on Feb. 8.
GNAC men’s basketball standings — Feb. 7
GNAC women’s basketball standings — Feb. 7
| Men’s | League | Overall |
| Team | W-L | W-L |
| Montana State Billings | 9-2 | 15-6 |
| Saint Martin’s | 8-3 | 18-3 |
| Northwest Nazarene | 7-4 | 11-8 |
| Central Washington | 6-5 | 13-7 |
| Seattle Pacific | 6-5 | 13-11 |
| Alaska Anchorage | 5-5 | 15-6 |
| Western Washington | 5-6 | 13-9 |
| Alaska Fairbanks | 3-7 | 5-13 |
| Simon Fraser | 3-8 | 5-17 |
| Western Oregon | 2-9 | 5-14 |
| Women’s | League | Overall |
| Team | W-L | W-L |
| Montana State Billings | 10-1 | 19-4 |
| Western Washington | 9-2 | 17-4 |
| Alaska Anchorage | 7-4 | 13-7 |
| Central Washington | 5-6 | 14-9 |
| Simon Fraser | 5-6 | 13-11 |
| Northwest Nazarene | 5-6 | 8-10 |
| Seattle Pacific | 5-6 | 8-13 |
| Western Oregon | 3-7 | 10-11 |
| Saint Martin’s | 3-7 | 5-12 |
| Alaska Fairbanks | 2-9 | 4-17 |
Boys basketball, Northwest Conference — Feb. 7
| Boys | League | Overall |
| Team | W-L | W-L |
| Mount Vernon | 14-1 | 18-2 |
| Lynden | 14-1 | 18-4 |
| Lynden Christian | 13-2 | 20-2 |
| Anacortes | 12-3 | 17-4 |
| Bellingham | 9-6 | 11-10 |
| Lakewood | 9-6 | 13-8 |
| Nooksack Valley | 7-8 | 11-11 |
| Sehome | 7-8 | 10-11 |
| Squalicum | 7-8 | 9-12 |
| Sehome | 7-8 | 9-10 |
| Meridian | 6-9 | 12-10 |
| Burlington- Edison | 6-9 | 12-12 |
| Sedro- Woolley | 6-9 | 9-12 |
| Ferndale | 6-9 | 7-14 |
| Mount Baker | 1-14 | 4-18 |
| Oak Harbor | 1-14 | 3-17 |
Girls basketball, Northwest Conference — Feb. 7
| Girls | League | Overall |
| Team | W-L | W-L |
| Nooksack Valley | 15-0 | 21-1 |
| Lynden | 14-1 | 20-1 |
| Burlington- Edison | 13-2 | 16-4 |
| Lynden Christian | 12-3 | 16-6 |
| Sehome | 10-5 | 11-6 |
| Squalicum | 9-6 | 14-7 |
| Oak Harbor | 9-6 | 12-8 |
| Ferndale | 9-6 | 10-10 |
| Anacortes | 6-9 | 10-10 |
| Blaine | 6-9 | 10-11 |
| Lakewood | 6-9 | 9-9 |
| Sedro- Woolley | 4-11 | 9-12 |
| Mount Vernon | 4-11 | 8-12 |
| Meridian | 2-13 | 6-16 |
| Bellingham | 1-14 | 3-17 |
| Mount Baker | 0-15 | 3-18 |
Connor J. Benintendi is CDN’s sports editor; reach him at connorbenintendi@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 104.
