Washington high school (WIAA) 4A/3A state girls basketball tournament: Live game recaps, highlights, top performers

Eight round-of-12 games on the west court going on all day at the Tacoma Dome. High School On SI Washington will keep you updated

Lillian Richelson and Glacier Peak are in the Class 4A girls tournament for the first time since 2020. / Photo by Todd Milles

TACOMA, Wash.- The bright lights of the Tacoma Dome are on - and let's get ready for the the WIAA Class 4A and 3A girls basketball championships.

High School On SI Washington will provide game recaps, video highlights and top performers throughout Wednesday in round-of-12 loser-out games.

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CLASS 3A (Bracket)

Wednesday schedule (loser out)

Jayda Lewis made two crucial free throws in the final seconds to push Garfield past White River in the Class 3A girls basketball tournament Wednesday. / Photo by Todd Milles

Garfield 51, White River47: The win didn’t come without more than its share of adversity for the Bulldogs, who saw a seven-point lead with 6:12 to play disappear after an 8-0 run by the Hornets in just over two minutes of game time.

Garfield (16-9) quickly regained the lead on a corner three from junior Lena Most and extended to a four-point lead on a Jayda Lewis layup.

The Bulldogs had a chance to put the game away at the free-throw line but missed five of six rebounds in the final 20 seconds of the game. Unfortunately for the Hornets, they were unable to secure rebounds on two of those misses, giving themselves just one opportunity to tie the game or take the lead.

“It was very frustrating,” White River girls coach Chris Gibson said. “They missed some free throws that we needed them to miss, and we couldn’t get the rebound.”

For the Bulldogs, it was the kind of effort that has helped propel them to the last four state championships that helped them corral back-to-back rebounds on missed free throws that took crucial extra seconds off the clock.

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Kennewick led most of the way in defeating Roosevelt on Wednesday in the Class 3A championships. / Photo by Todd Milles

Kennewick 59, Roosevelt 50: For the first time in Daron Santo’s eight years as coach at Kennewick, the No. 7 seed Lions are headed to the state quarterfinals after Wednesday’s opening round win over No. 15 Roosevelt.

The Lions (18-7) have overcome the loss of senior Dylyn Dress, who was the team’s top scorer but injured her knee six weeks ago, with a balanced offensive attack they once again displayed against the Rough Riders (18-10). Senior Ashlyn Dress, Dylyn’s twin sister, led Kennewick with 15 points. Sophomore June Fiander and junior Rylee Bendewald each added 12.

“That’s how we’ve been playing all season,” Santo said. “…We haven’t dropped off because everyone plays great as a team and shares the ball. We’ve always had that balanced scoring throughout the season.”

Roosevelt, which was led in scoring by junior Ellery Burke-Brown, tried to rally in the fourth quarter, but the Lions made free throws and seemingly got every loose ball.

“These kids play hard,” Santo. “I’ve been coaching for 25 years, and this team just goes at it so hard, like I’ve never seen.”

Ashlyn Dress said the team has rallied around each other all season and that happened again against Roosevelt.

“We, as a team, we just really came together and put our trust in each other,” Ashlyn Dress said. “We full confidence in each other. Even if our shots weren’t falling or we had a couple of turnovers, it was more like, ‘We’ve got the next one.’ And we just pushed through.

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Coach Talia Walton and Sea-King District champion Seattle Prep move on to the Class 3A quarterfinals with win over Eastside Catholic. / Photo by Todd Milles

Seattle Prep 48, Eastside Catholic 46: It wasn’t a stellar offensive performance for anyone on the Seattle Prep roster, but the defense did enough to send the Panthers to the quarterfinals with a win over Eastside Catholic.

Senior guard EJ Ovena led the Panthers with 12 points, and made six of her eight to help the Panthers survive the Crusaders comeback attempt late in the fourth quarter. Ovena was the only Panther in double figures scoring.

“We know what we’re supposed to do as a team,” Ovena said. “Our coach, Talia (Walton) always ingrains that in us. All we need to do is just move the ball, look for open shots and stop forcing shots and passes. I think eventually we did the things that we were supposed to do to get it done.”

The Crusaders (16-12) were led by their talented freshman duo of Sophie Lugolobi and Amy Nduka who each had 17 points, but the rest of the team managed just a total of 12. Eastside Catholic had a chance to tie on the final possession of the game but couldn’t control the inbounds pass from underneath its own hoop and time expired.

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Bellevue girls cruised to a Class 3A girls basketball tournament victory over Meadowdale on Wednesday. / Photo by Todd Milles

Bellevue 69, Meadowdale 54: Opponents are quickly finding out - if you allow the Wolverines to get out and run, they are a challegne to slow down.

Dilynn Johnson scored a game-high 28 points, and the Wolverines took control from the get-go, handling the Mavericks.

Started by Nayvi Robinson's 3-pointer, Bellevue closed the final 3:44 by scoring 13 points to grab a 41-27 halftime lead. Johnson's basket with seven seconds to go closed the run.

Both Robinson, daughter of ex-NBA guard Nate Robinson, and Johnson are ninth graders.

"Talented ... and very coachable," Bellevue girls coach Romell Witherspoon said. "Now they are doing things I can't coach. They are playing free."

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Thursday schedule

Game 1: No. 19 Garfield (16-9) vs 4-seed Stanwood (21-4), 9 a.m.

Game 2: 7-seed Kennewick (18-7) vs. 1-seed Central Valley (24-0), 10:30 a.m.

Game 3: 5-seed Seattle Prep (21-8) vs. 6-seed Lakeside of Seattle (23-4), 12:15 p.m.

Game 4: No. 17 Bellevue (23-6) vs. 2-seed North Thurston (27-1), 2 p.m.

Weekend schedule

Semifinals Friday are at 3:45 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. Championship Saturday is at 3 p.m.

TOP PERFORMERS

Audrey Lucas, Meadowdale

28 points, 10-15 FGs

Dilynn Johnson, Bellevue

26 points, 10-19 FGs, 7 rebounds

Maggie Schmitz, White River

23 points, 8 rebounds

Amy Nduka, Eastside Catholic

17 points, 17 rebounds, steals

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CLASS 4A (Bracket)

Wednesday schedule (loser out)

Avery Hanson helped get Auburn off to a fast start, and the Trojans put away Redmond in the Class 4A girls tournament Wednesday. / Photo by Todd Milles

Auburn 63, Redmond 42: The Trojans jumped on Redmond from the opening tip, leading 20-0 at the end of the first quarter and scoring the first 22 points of the game. The Mustangs played Auburn virtually evenly the rest of the way, but the initial onslaught was too much for them to overcome.

“We had a plan of what we were going to do, and our sets were working really well,” sophomore guard Avery Hansen said. “I feel like we just came out calm and confident because we already knew how they play. We just had our plan and we went with it and it worked really well to start the game.”

Hansen led the charge in the first half, scoring 12 of her team-high 16 points. Fellow sophomores Keleesa Howard and Jayden Lewis each added 14 points to support Hansen on the offensive end. Senior Iha Kasam led Redmond (21-5) with 22 points and junior guard Sofia Locati added 16, but the rest of the Mustangs scored a total of just six points.

“We knew (Kasam) could shoot, so we wanted to get a hand up on her,” Hansen said. “(Locati) likes to go left, so our plan was to force her right. That worked really well for us in the first half.”

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Scott Thompson and his Camas took a step in defending the Class 4A championship against Lake Stevens. / Photo by Todd Milles

Camas 70, Lake Stevens 52: The game was never really in doubt for the defending Class 4A champion Papermakers. They jumped on the Vikings early and methodically built on their lead throughout, cruising to an 18-point win.

“We’ve been here before, coming off of (a state championship) win last year and putting tough games on our schedule,” senior point guard Keirra Thompson said. “I think our team was ready for this from the start, and there wasn’t a doubt that we were going to win that game.”

Thompson led the Papermakers (18-7) with 19 points, but perhaps more impressively dished out 11 assists.

“I think me hitting shots at the beginning just kind of helped open up the team a lot,” Thompson said. “They were worried (about me), so I’m just kicking and spraying and trusting my teammates that they’re going to hit those shots, and they did.”

Lake Stevens was paced by sophomore Noelani Tupua, who led all scorers with 21 points. Her sister, junior Keira Isabelle Tupua, added 15 points. The Vikings didn’t have much else offensively, as the rest of the team accounted for just 16 points and three players accounted for 40 of the team’s 53 shots.

“We were ready for this game from the get-go,” Thompson said. “We haven’t been in a loser-out game in a while, so I think it helped us get ready to just to have that feeling, like if we lose this game our season is over. We’re trying to win every 50-50 ball, and I think it helped a lot.”

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Glacier Peak posted the biggest upset of the day on the Class 4A girls court by knocking off 4A GSHL champion Union. / Photo by Todd Milles

Glacier Peak 60, Union 49: Coming up with a game plan to stop a superstar player is no easy task, and coaches don’t always get it right. Glacier Peak head coach Brian Hill, his coaching staff, and his players got it right on Wednesday, knocking off No. 5 Union in a loser-out game on the opening day of action at the Tacoma Dome.

The Grizzlies (20-7) held Union’s star junior Brooklynn Haywood to a season-low 11 points on just 3-for-12 shooting and eliminated the Titans.

Glacier Peak used a diamond-and-one defense with freshman Lillian Riechelson guarding Haywood to try to limit the damage. Riechelson did more than that, effectively making Haywood a non-factor offensively.

“A lot of her moves that we watched and studied were to the left,” Glacier Peak coach Brian Hill said. “That’s where she’s strongest and most comfortable. She can obviously go right, but it was like let’s just make her go to the right and then we’re going to have some help there. So, every time she’s going to her right, which we think is probably not her strong suit, there is always someone else there, but we’re not letting her come back to the left.”

For much of the night, Haywood struggled to even get her hands on the basketball. Riechelson’s goal was to not let Haywood catch the basketball and most of the time she succeeded.

“She can’t score if she doesn’t get the ball,” senior guard Brynna Pukis said. “So, might as well start there.”

Haywood entered the contest averaging 32.3 points per game and surpassed 2,000 career points earlier in the postseason.

Pukis scored 16 points for the Grizzlies, including two of her four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, which helped them hang on for the win.

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Ella Craig and Davis of Yakima bounced back from a regional loss to handle Mead in Class 4A girls first-round action Wednesday. / Photo by Todd Milles

Davis of Yakima 81, Mead 58: Cheyenne Hull burst on to the scene last year as a freshman for the Pirates (21-3). As a sophomore, she’s not sneaking up on any of her opponents, but they can’t stop her anyway.

Hull’s latest victim was the Panthers (17-8), who she helped eliminate from the state tournament with a game-high 21 points. Hull scored 18 points in the first half, shooting 8-for-9 from the field, including making all eight of her attempts from inside the three-point line.

“(My teammates) are good at getting open and just getting me the good pass so I can finish strong,” Hull said.

Hull scored the first two points of the second half, but was forced to the bench with four fouls with 5:11 to play in the third quarter. Despite Hull’s absence, the Pirates had no problem maintaining their lead. She returned for most of the fourth quarter, but the game had all but already been decided.

“It’s not the first time I’ve been in foul trouble,” Hull said. “They know how to work around me, and they know how to play and just calm themselves down when we’re in tough situations like this.”

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Thursday schedule

Game 1: 6-seed Auburn (20-7) vs. 4-seed Woodinville (24-4), 3:45 p.m.

Game 2: 7-seed Camas (20-7) vs. 8-seed Sumner (23-4), 5:30 p.m.

Game 3: No. 13-seed Glacier Peak (20-7) vs. 3-seed Chiawana (23-1), 7:15 p.m.

Game 4: 1-seed Davis of Yakima (21-3), vs. 2-seed Lake Washington (24-4), 9 p.m.

Weekend schedule

Semifinals Friday are at 7:15 p.m. and 9 p.m. Championship Saturday is at 7 p.m.

TOP PERFORMERS

Cheyenne Hull, Davis of Yakima

21 points, 9-13 FGs, 10 rebounds

Noelani Tupua, Lake Stevens

21 points, 9-16 FGsd

Keirra Thompson, Camas

19 points, 11 assists

Samantha Thoma, Glacier Peak

19 points, 7-12 FGs

Avery Hansen, Auburn

16 points, 12 rebounds 8 steals

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