Game recaps, highlights from the semifinals, consolation games of the 4A and 3A state basketball championships
Between the Class 4A and 3A boys and girls state tournaments, 60 basketball games will be played in the Tacoma Dome this weekend. The News Tribune will be at all of them, providing game recaps, interviews, stats and more.
Follow along for updates on Friday’s semifinals and loser-out consolation games. This page will be updated throughout the day.
Find out what happened leading up to this point in our recaps from Wednesday’s opening-round action and Thursday’s quarterfinals.
CLASS 4A BOYS
SEMIFINALS
NO. 1 MOUNT SI 53, NO. 11 OLYMPIA 39
For a half, it looked like an upset could be in order.
Olympia went toe-to-toe with the 4A tournament’s top seed in undefeated defending 4A champion Mount Si.
At halftime, the Bears trailed 23-22 and it looked like anyone’s game.
But, Olympia (25-6) went cold on the offensive end in the second half and Mount Si (25-0), like it has done to all of its competition this year, distanced itself, holding Olympia to just 17 points to eventually pull away for a win.
Mount Si coach Jason Griffith said that while his players garner headlines for their offensive talents, the program’s identity will always be defense.
“Over the last four years, our program prides itself on the defensive end,” he said. “That’s what led us to a state title two years ago and it’s what led us to get this win tonight. We’re tough and we focus up and execute a defensive game plan. We probably showed it a little bit on the other end, maybe our legs weren’t as fresh because of how hard we were working on the defensive end. I’d rather hold a team to below 40 than allow them to score 65 and hope to win.”
Olympia shot just 28.9 percent from the field in the loss and 21.4 percent from the 3-point line. Mount Si’s team length surely had something to do with that.
“They’re big and they can shoot it, but I think our guys match up against those guys perfectly well,” Gerrits said. “I just think we didn’t come out in the second half like we did in the first half. They’re talented, they’re quick, they can run, they can shoot it.”
Gerrits led Olympia with a game-high 19 points and seven rebounds.
Bennett O’Connor (15 points, seven rebounds), Blake Forrest (12 points) and Miles Heide (nine points, 13 rebounds) paced the Wildcats’ offense.
Mount Si moves on to the 4A title game for the third consecutive tournament — the Wildcats lost to Gonzaga Prep in 2019 and bested Central Valley in the championship game in 2020 — and will play Curtis at 3 p.m. Saturday.
Olympia plays Union at 1 p.m. in the third-fifth place game.
NO. 2 CURTIS 49, NO. 3 UNION 40
Devin Whitten licks his chops when opposing defenses go into a 2-3 zone. That’s when the Curtis High School sophomore guard gets a chance to shine.
In Friday night’s semifinal against Union, he let it fly early and often, converting five 3-pointers en route to a team-high 16 points.
His biggest of the bunch? Curtis was clinging to a three-point lead with 1:23 to play. Whitten launched a deep 3 from the left wing — right in front of Curtis’ bench — as the shot clock was winding down. He drilled it, got fouled, and converted the four-point play to extend the lead and effectively ice the game.
Curtis (26-3) hung on to win, advancing to Saturday’s 4A state championship game against top-seeded Mount Si. It’s Curtis’ first trip back to the title game since 2013.
“When teams run zone, I know it’s a game that I can stand out,” Whitten said. “So today was a day and I just know I have to hit shots in those moments. … I just want to help the team win, anything. Just hitting shots, doing anything on offense just to help them. We knew we had to win, so I knew I had to step up today.”
Curtis raced out to an 8-0 lead, forcing Union coach Blake Conley to call an early timeout. While the Vikings kept the Titans at arm’s length for most of the game, Union wouldn’t go away.
It wasn’t their most explosive offensive effort, but the Vikings won with defense, holding Union to 37 percent shooting from the field and 0-of-7 from 3-point range.
Cinque Maxwell added 13 points for the Vikings, Tyce Paulsen had nine and Williams had seven.
Yanni Fassillis (17 points) and Bryson Metz (11) paced the Titans (20-6), who play Olympia at 1 p.m. Saturday in the third-fifth place game.
CONSOLATION
NO. 5 TAHOMA 64, NO. 15 GRAHAM-KAPOWSIN 44
Tahoma (17-9) led wire-to-wire against Graham-Kapowsin (14-11) to ensure a trophy in the first trip to the Tacoma Dome in program history.
The Bears got a hot shooting day from guard Joey Hassmann, who made 5-of-8 3-point attempts on the way to a game-high 18 points. Carson Talbert added 17 points.
Tahoma shot 44.2 percent from the field and 36.8 percent from 3-point range in the win.
The Bears held Graham-Kapowsin to just 24.6 percent shooting from the field and 28.6 percent from 3-point range. Elijah Cain and Christian Ballah led the Eagles with 13 points apiece, while Joshua Wood had 11.
Tahoma plays Kamiakin in the fourth-sixth place game at 9:30 a.m. Saturday.
NO. 4 KAMIAKIN 63, NO. 8 GONZAGA PREP 40
Future Oregon State teammates Tyler Bilodeau and Jayden Stevens went head-to-head again Friday afternoon.
The two Beavers commits played against each other for the first time in their high school careers earlier this season in the 4A District 8 championship game, each leading their team with 19 points. Gonzaga Prep won that meeting on a half-court buzzer-beater.
Both Bilodeau and Stevens provided another glimpse of the talent the Pac-12 program is getting in this class at the Tacoma Dome.
But, this time it was Kamiakin (21-4) that prevailed, sending the Braves to the fourth-sixth place game against Tahoma at 9:30 a.m. Saturday.
Bilodeau led Kamiakin with 18 points on 6-of-15 shooting, and sunk all six of his free throw attempts while also adding eight rebounds.
Trey Arland (11 points, 11 rebounds), Nate Gray Jr. (11 points) and Trey Arland (11 points) also reached double figures scoring.
Stevens scored a game-high 20 points on efficient 8-of-15 shooting, pulled down six boards and added two assists.
His three-game scoring total of 67 points leads the 4A tournament to this point, but the Bullpups (15-10), after winning back-to-back titles in 2018 and 2019, will miss the placing round for the second consecutive tournament.
CLASS 4A GIRLS
SEMIFINALS
NO. 1 WOODINVILLE 59, NO. 5 EASTLAKE 55
The Falcons (25-1) didn’t shoot it well from the field, making just 36 percent of their shots. The Wolves (23-4), led by Tatum Wood in the first half and Ava Schmidt in the second, held a two-point lead at the half, 29-27, and kept it close throughout.
In the end, though, Woodinville connected on 21-of-24 free throws, Tatum Thompson and Veronica Sheffey combined to go 19-of -20 at the stripe, and the Falcons earned their third trip to the 4A state title game in the last four tournaments held. Woodinville will face Sumner at 5 p.m. Saturday for the title.
“Every practice, we make a bunch of free throws,” Sheffey said. “And you know, me and Tatum and the rest of us want it really bad.”
Wood scored all but two of her 13 points in the first 16 minutes of the contest.
After the break, that’s when Schmidt asserted herself inside. The 6-foot-2 junior scored 17 of her game-high 26 points over the final two quarters, including a four-minute run that began in the final minute of the second quarter and ran to the five-minute mark of the third when she scored eight straight points for Eastlake.
The last of those four field goals, with 5:06 to play, tied the game at 33-33. The game still was tied, at 39-39, with 2:11 left in the third. Woodinville scored the final six points of the period, though, to take a 45-39 lead.
Schmidt opened the fourth with a personal 7-2 run that got the Wolves back to within a single point, 47-46, but Eastlake never led it again.
Thompson matched Schmidt for scoring honors, also pouring in 26.
Eastlake plays Pasco at 11:15 a.m. Saturday in the third-fifth place game.
NO. 2 SUMNER 64, NO. 3 PASCO 55
The Spartans (24-2) got a big all-around performance from 6-foot-1 senior Alyson Deaver to finally get in front of and beat the Bulldogs (23-2).
Deaver did a little of everything for Sumner. She scored a team-high 19 points, including 12 in the second half. She grabbed 10 rebounds and added a pair of assists.
And she was a calming force in the backcourt when the Spartans played almost seven minutes without their point guard due to an injury suffered on the floor. And Deaver helped break pressure when her sister, Catelyn Deaver, had to take a seat for nearly three minutes of the fourth quarter after picking up her fourth foul.
Just all in a day’s work.
“It was every single one of us, getting a team win,” Deaver said. “I think that’s what is going to get us a championship.”
Ah yes, the championship. In the program’s first-ever trip to the Dome, the Spartans will play for the big trophy. Tipoff is at 5 p.m. on Saturday in the matchup most have yearned for — No. 2 Sumner vs. No. 1 Woodinville.
Pasco plays Eastlake at 11:15 a.m. Saturday in the third-fifth place game.
CONSOLATION
NO. 7 RICHLAND 61, NO. 6 EMERALD RIDGE 41
The Bombers (19-8) assured themselves a trophy in their first Tacoma Dome appearance since 2005, while ending the Jaguars first-ever run to the state tournament. Richland will play for fourth and sixth places at 8 a.m. Saturday against Camas.
Emerald Ridge (17-8) suffered through a lethargic second quarter, and trailed by nine at the half, 27-18. The deficit was 10 when coach Arvin Mosley called a timeout just over a minute into the second half and replaced his entire starting lineup.
The move momentarily sparked the Jaguars, who eventually closed within three, 35-32, on Maya Barnett’s basket with 2:47 remaining in the third quarter. Kylee Fox responded with a long 3-pointer for Richland, which then pulled away.
Fox led all scorers with the high performance of the tournament so far on the girls side with 33 points. She added seven rebounds and two assists. Macie Milum added 18 for the Bombers, while Monique Carter scored 16 to pace the Jaguars.
NO. 9 CAMAS 54, NO. 4 LAKE STEVENS 39
Reagan Jamison will forever be the trivia answer. The question? Which Papermaker shooter made the shot that broke the record for most 3-pointers by a Class 4A girls team in a WIAA state tournament. In either era where four games potentially could be played — 1974 to 2010 and 2017 to present — Camas stands atop the mountain.
The Papermakers (18-9) made 12 more 3-pointers in eliminating the Vikings (20-6) on Friday morning, giving them 31 here so far this week. That broke the current-era mark of 27 set in 2020 by Issaquah, as well as the 2008 Woodinville Falcons record of 28 from the original four-game max era.
Anna Mooney broke the current era mark with 2:17 left in the third quarter. Jamison’s shot came with 7:11 to play, giving the Papermakers 29 for the tournament.
Mooney’s second of the game, with less than a minute to go, also broke the tournament single-game record for Camas, which had eight different players make one or more. Glacier Peak made 11 from distance against Chiawana in 2020.
Camas plays in the fourth-sixth place game against Richland at 8 a.m. Saturday.
CLASS 3A BOYS
SEMIFINALS
NO. 2 AUBURN 45, NO. 5 SEATTLE PREP 34
For the first time in school history, Auburn (25-2) will play for a state championship Saturday night in the Tacoma Dome after grinding out a semifinals win over Seattle Prep (21-7).
“It means the world to me,” said senior Tre Blassingame, who had nine points and six rebounds in the win. “To do it for the first time, to do that for the town means so much to me. I couldn’t be more happy.”
Auburn’s group isn’t a collection of transfer students from other schools, shadily thrown together with the lone goal of hoisting a trophy.
This group has been through it all together — from playing together in middle school, to reaching the Dome for the first time as promising sophomores and losing in the first round, to having their junior postseason canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Saturday’s championship game appearance has been a long time coming.
“It’s just authenticity,” Blassingame said. “We’ve been grinding together for years, it’s been our goal in our high school careers. To see it finally coming to fruition is crazy. We work so hard, we deserve to be here and we knew that we were going to be here the whole time.”
In the first half against Seattle Prep, neither team was able to generate much offense — both ultimately ended the game with season-low totals — and the Panthers took a 17-14 lead into the break.
Auburn didn’t take control until the second half, when Tyrell Nichols came off the bench and hit a pair of 3-pointers and added a layup to give the Trojans a 31-23 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Then it was Maleek Arington’s turn to take over. He scored seven of his team-high 12 points in the fourth quarter, attacking the rim.
When the clock hit zero, Auburn had held Seattle Prep — led by Braeden Smith’s 11 points — to a season-low 34 total points, 38.7 percent shooting from the field and just 16.7 percent from 3-point range.
Auburn faces Rainier Beach for the 3A title at 7 p.m. Saturday.
Seattle Prep plays Mount Spokane at 11:15 a.m. in the third-fifth place game.
NO. 4 RAINIER BEACH 53, NO. 7 MOUNT SPOKANE 50
Rainier Beach (21-4) has already won nine state basketball titles, and will try to extend that number to double digits Saturday night inside the Tacoma Dome.
The Vikings rallied by a surging Wildcats (22-6) team in the second half in their semifinals meeting to advance.
Mount Spokane led for much of the first half, shooting 58.8 percent from the floor, and entered the break with a 25-22 advantage.
But, Rainier Beach took over not long after, using a 21-point third quarter to grab a lead it never lost.
The Vikings took their decisive lead with 2:57 left in the quarter on a pair of Josh Conerly Jr. free throws, which were part of a 20-4 run in the second half.
Rainier Beach consistently caused turnovers, held the Wildcats to 10-of-30 (33.3 percent) from the floor in the second half, and got out in transition to pull away.
“We knew we were in for a battle with this team,” Rainier Beach coach Mike Bathea said. “This team played tough. … They’re a disciplined team and they run their stuff. They’re not going to beat themselves.
“So, we knew we had to speed this game up and turn it into a track meet, and we were able to do that in the second half.”
The Vikings forced 23 turnovers and collected 18 steals, led by DeMar Johnson, who finished with eight takeaways while also scoring a game-high 17 points and adding six assists.
“Just playing together, making sure we’re playing hard defense and being a team all together,” Johnson said of what set the tone for Rainier Beach.
Down as many as 12 points in the second half, Mount Spokane went on an 8-1 run during the final 1:44, but didn’t cut the lead back to one possession until Maverick Sanders’ final shot at the buzzer.
Sanders led the Wildcats with 16 points, while Xavier Kamalu-Vargas has 13 and Ryan Lafferty had 12.
Conerly, a five-star offensive lineman recruit, added 14 points and 13 rebounds for Rainier Beach, while Jaelin Green had eight points and 10 boards.
Rainier Beach plays Auburn at 7 p.m. Saturday in the 3A championship.
Mount Spokane plays Seattle Prep at 11:15 a.m. Saturday in the third-fifth place game.
CONSOLATION
NO. 1 GARFIELD 73, NO. 14 EASTSIDE CATHOLIC 55
Less than 24 hours after getting knocked out of title contention — and dropping their first loss of the season to No. 2 Auburn in an overtime thriller — Garfield (23-1) regrouped with a rout of a 3A Metro League rival.
The defending state champion Bulldogs trailed by a basket at halftime, but outscored Eastside Catholic, 43-23, in the final two quarters to ensure they will leave the Tacoma Dome with a trophy.
Jaylin Stewart paced Garfield with 16 points, eight rebounds and five assists, while Washington commit Koren Johnson added 13 points and Raphiel Justice had 12.
Eastside Catholic’s Louis Grante Halliday scored a game-high 18 points, but it wasn’t enough.
The loss ends the season for the Crusaders (20-11), who opened their tournament run with an upset win over O’Dea before dropping consecutive contests to Seattle Prep and Garfield.
Garfield plays Mountlake Terrace in the fourth-sixth place game at 8 a.m. Saturday.
NO. 9 MOUNTLAKE TERRACE 73, NO. 6 GIG HARBOR 71
After trailing by as many as 16 points, the Hawks (20-3) rallied in the second half, securing a spot in a trophy game for the first time since 2013.
Mountlake Terrace spent much of the second half digging out of the double-digit deficit, eventually regaining the lead late in the fourth on a basket from Jeffrey Anyimah, who paced the Hawks with 26 points.
Anyimah pushed the lead to 71-68 on a pair of free throws with 44 seconds left. Luke Browne answered with a corner 3-pointer on Gig Harbor’s next possession to tie it.
But, the Hawks took the lead for good on their next trip down the floor. Mountlake Terrace forward Zaveon Jones caught a pass in the post, and was quickly double-teamed by Gig Harbor, but he calmly swung the ball over to Vito Mkrtychyan for an easy layup with 13 seconds to play.
Gig Harbor (23-4) had a chance at a game-winning 3-pointer at the other end, but it was off the mark.
Jones added 15 points for Mountlake Terrace, while Chris Meegan had 11.
Browne led the Tides with 26 points, Will Landram had 17 and Asher Raquiza added 10.
Mountlake Terrace plays Garfield in the fourth-sixth place game at 8 a.m. Saturday.
CLASS 3A GIRLS
SEMIFINALS
NO. 4 LAKE WASHINGTON 42, NO. 1 MEAD 41
The Kangaroos (21-4) appeared to have put away the upset over the top-seeded and previously unbeaten Panthers (23-1). But Mead whittled a 10-point deficit to just one over the final 3:29 and had possession of the ball with 16 seconds to go.
After a timeout, the Panthers ran the clock down under five seconds. That’s when Teryn Gardner cut along the baseline, took a pass from Olivia Moore, and tried to get to the rim for the game-winning layup.
Lake Washington senior Elise Hani, who’s 6-feet-4, slid across the lane and threw her hands high in the air. That defensive move caused Gardner’s attempt to finish short, hitting the underside of the rim as the final buzzer sounded.
“Stay straight up,” Hani said. “That’s what crossed my head.”
Hani looked to have put this one away when she made two free throws with 3 minutes, 26 seconds to play that staked Lake Washington to a 42-32 lead. Those free throws re-established a double-digit lead that was even larger for much of the contest.
But Mead, which made just three of its 22 field attempts in the first half as the Kangaroos pulled away to lead it 27-11 at the half, finally built the rallies that fueled a comeback.
“They’re No. 1 for a reason, and we knew they were going to be a challenge,” said Hani, who finished with 19 points, eight rebounds, and the game-saving defensive play. “They’re not just going to roll over. That’s what carried us to the end. Just knowing those shots are going to start to fall and stuff is going to happen.”
Mead plays Arlington at 1 p.m. Saturday in the third-sixth place game.
NO. 2 GARFIELD 56, NO. 3 ARLINGTON 42
The Bulldogs (20-0) set up a rematch of the 2020 championship game with their win over the Eagles (20-3).
Arlington led this one by three, 39-36, heading into the fourth quarter. That’s when Garfield flipped the switch, first erasing the deficit and then racing away for the double-digit victory.
“Just our energy was off,” said junior Malia Samuels, who finished with 15 points, six rebounds and five assists. “Then we came together as a team and we just turned it around. We got our energy and that was the end.”
Sophomore Katie Fiso made eight of 13 shots, added a nine of 10 performance from the free throw line and contributed six rebounds of her own to finish with a game-high 25 points. Jenna Villa had 12 points and Katie Snow had 12 rebounds for Arlington.
Garfield will tip off for its second straight title against Lake Washington at 9 p.m. on Saturday. The Bulldogs beat the Kangs, 55-41, in 2020.
Arlington plays Mead at 1 p.m. Saturday in the third-sixth place game.
CONSOLATION
NO. 7 STANWOOD 67, NO. 14 HERMISTON 57
For the second consecutive game, a 3-point shooting record was tied, as the Spartans (14-6) ended the Bulldogs (17-12) trip across the border with a barrage of first-half 3-pointers. Stanwood advances to play Snohomish for fourth and sixth places at 9:30 a.m. Saturday.
The Spartans made nine-of-17 3-pointers in the first 16 minutes to tie the 3A record for a tournament in its current format with 24 made so far. That matches the mark set by Mercer Island in 2017 and equalled by Prairie in 2019.
The Spartans had plenty of chances to break the record in the second half, but went 0-for-14 after the break. Two potential 3-pointers did go in, but one was disallowed as having come after the shot clock ran out and the second was waved off as the game’s final buzzer sounded before it was released.
Hermiston made its own history Wednesday with a first-round win, becoming the first school from Oregon to win a WIAA state game.
Katelyn Heideman and Izzy Simmons each scored a game-high 20 points for Hermiston. Vivienne Berrett had 14 points and 14 rebounds, leading three Stanwood scorers in double figures.
NO. 5 SNOHOMISH 81, NO. 9 LAKESIDE 56
The Panthers (17-5) forged the early lead then put this one away with a huge second quarter, scoring 24 points while defensively holding the Lions (19-7) to just a single field goal and three total points over the second eight minutes.
That meant some rest for the starters as coach Alex Iverson substituted liberally throughout most of the fourth quarter with Snohomish in front by 30 most of the way. Mia Broom never did let up for Lakeside, though, as the Lions full-court pressure netted her easy takeaway layups down the stretch to finish with a team-high 15 points.
Ella Gallatin made 11-of-15 shots to finish with a game-high 28 points. She also grabbed six rebounds and had four assists. The Panthers tied the 3A tournament record for a single game with 12 made 3-pointers, matching Mount Spokane’s mark set in against Edmonds-Woodway in 2016.
Snohomish moves on to play Stanwood in the fourth-sixth place game at 9:30 a.m. Saturday.
This story was originally published March 4, 2022 at 11:19 AM.
