Washington high school (WIAA) 1A state medal round: Bellevue Christian girls, Annie Wright boys win first titles

No. 2 Bellevue Christian's limits King's star Anderson, breaks through for first girls title; while top-seeded Annie Wright boys race past perennial power Lynden Christian to cap run to the top

Annie Wright celebrates winning the 1A boys state basketball championship Saturday, March 8, 2025, at the Yakima Valley SunDome in Yakima, Wash. / Evan Abell/Yakima Herald-Republic

YAKIMA, Wash. - Annie Wright's boys and the girls of Bellevue Christian made history, capturing the first state championships for their programs.

Here's a recap of the championship game and the scores of the other placing games.

BOYS

Championship

No. 1 Annie Wright 59, No. 3 Lynden Christian 46

YAKIMA, Wash. – Three years ago, Annie Wright stars Jeremiah
Harshman, Martin Kaupanger and Reggie Lester were wide-eyed freshmen, newbies
to state and the Yakima Valley SunDome.

Saturday night they left champions, having guided top-seeded
Annie Wright to its first state championship in only the fifth full year of the
program.

Annie Wright's Martin Kaupanger blocks a shot Saturday against Lynden Christian in the Class 1A state championship game in the SunDome. / Evan Abell/Yakima Herald-Republic

“The community of Annie Wright is really close and we’ve
been a part of this since our freshman year,” said Martin Kaupanger, who is
bound for Indiana State. “We all decided we’re going to take a lesser role.
Everybody can step up on any night, it just depends on how they guard us.”

After Kaupanger had the game-high in the quarterfinal (11
points) and Lester topped the scoring in Friday’s semifinal (17), it was
Harshman’s turn.

The point guard, who was voted the tournament MVP scored 20
points on 8-for-15 shooting, grabbed nine rebounds and dished out four assists.

Harshman said the team felt there was some unfinished business
because of last year’s title game loss, when Zillah stunned the Gators on
Dekker Van De Graaf’s last-second soaring putback of his own badly missed 3-pointer.

“It feels great, we put in a lot of hard work,” “We
definitely should’ve won last year, so we’ve had a chip on our shoulder all
year, we played through adversity and fought, and probably had the toughest
schedule in the state of Washington.”

The Gators (24-2) lost just once to an in-state opponent (3A
state-qualifier Bellevue), and held its own in a top tournament in Portland.

This week, they left little doubt, smothering No. 7 in
Wednesday’s quarterfinals, avenged last March’s title loss by going on a 21-2
second half run to pull away from Zillah to set up Saturday.

Kaupanger added 10 points, grabbed seven rebounds and
blocked four shots.

Gannon Dykstra had 10 points and Gunnar Dykstra added nine for the Lyncs (24-4), who were seeking their eighth championship.

Third/fifth: No. 5 Zillah 75, No. 2 Royal 70 (OT)

Fourth/sixth: No. 7 Meridian 59, No. 9 Chelan 48

GIRLS

CHAMPIONSHIP

No. 2 Bellevue Christian 55, No. 4 King's 37

YAKIMA, Wash. – After 18 trips to the state tournament, Bellevue Christian’s girls have a state championship.

The second-seeded Vikings used a balanced scoring attack and a big fourth quarter to beat No. 4 King’s 55-37 late Saturday afternoon in the Yakima Valley SunDome.

Kiana Skogstad scored a game-high 15 points for BC, which outscored the Knights 20-3 in the final period. The Vikings used a 21-1 run to break away in what had been a tight game with five lead changes.

Rocklyn Osborn and Olivia Reynolds each had 11 points for Bellevue Christian, and Lili Meisner chipped in 10. Osborn added a game-best 12 rebounds.

King’s Kaleo Anderson, whose buzzer-beating 3-pointer Friday night against top-seeded Lynden Christian, was held to 13 points, 10 below her season average.

The Vikings’ best finish before Saturday had been a second-place trophy in 2006.

BC (25-2) won the rebounding battle 33-26 and blocked five shots.

Eleanor Gaydos had none points, and Cat Ellard added eight points and five rebounds for the Knights (20-8).

Third/fifth: No. 1 Lynden Christian 50. Annie Wright 36

Fourth/sixth: Zillah 64, Naches Valley 53