Down goes No. 1! Nduka, Eastside Catholic upset Bellevue, claim 3A girls title
Amy Nduka made sure the Tacoma Dome had one last hero.
The double- and triple-teams seemed to follow Eastside Catholic’s star forward everywhere in Saturday night’s 3A championship, but Nduka knew she had to stay poised. Even when Bellevue raced to a six-point lead in the first half. Even when she had three points in the game’s first 17 minutes.
“She just knew she had to step it up,” Eastside Catholic head coach Darnellia Russell told The News Tribune. “You’ve got to be tough. They’re going to triple-team you, double-team you. You’re gonna get that every year, especially in high school. … You’ve got to just fight through it.
“(I was) telling her, ‘Keep going. Keep going. Keep going.’ And I also told her, ‘Amy, you have to be positive. If you get down, your team’s gonna get down. You’re the leader. They follow after you. They look up to you, all that. Even you being a sophomore. You’re young, but they still look up to you.’”
And so Nduka went to work. The 6-foot-4 sophomore drew 10 total fouls, an interior mismatch for anyone Bellevue threw at her. Eastside Catholic’s heartbeat delivered a game-high 23 points soon enough, sparking a 22-2 run that began late in the second quarter. The Crusaders never looked back.
Nduka’s heroics lifted the Crusaders over No. 1 Bellevue, 55-43, in the Hardwood Classic’s finale. It’s their first state title in program history.
“We might go get some apple cider, pop some bottles of apple cider,” Russell smiled, “and have fun at the hotel. We’re just excited.”
Nduka’s final line: 23 points, nine rebounds, two blocks, two steals, and an assist. She was 7-of-15 from the field despite constant pressure and 9-of-12 from the free-throw line. When shots wouldn’t fall early, the three-star recruit kept going.
“Not being too caught up in my score, but just how we were working together as a team,” Nduka said. “I would say even though I didn’t start the best, it was just staying with it, staying strong, and not getting too caught up.”
It’s a revenge win for Eastside Catholic, which lost twice to Bellevue this season — including a three-point loss in the 3A District 2 championship on Feb. 21. Nduka’s excited to renew the Eastside Catholic-Bellevue rivalry in the coming years.
“When they beat us twice, it was personal to us, to everybody on our team,” she said. “Just getting that back is super important to us.”
Bellevue guard Lucia Mayorquin led the Wolverines with 14 points and seven rebounds. Sophomore guard Dilynn Johnson had 10 points and Syesha Simanton added eight.
Crusaders guard Sophie Lugolobi finished with 11 points and freshman guards Sa’Fine Sampson and Raquel Dunnam added six points apiece, an up-and-coming group alongside Nduka for the foreseeable future.
“In the beginning of the season, we had a lot of girls that (wanted) to prove themselves,” Russell said. “I just kept telling them — you guys have to play together in order for us to win. We cannot be just one person out here, you know? Once they just really started loving on each other, it’s really that.
“I’ll say this over and over. Girls basketball, it’s really that. They have to really love and like each other on the floor, and you can get a lot accomplished.”
This story was originally published March 8, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
