BY MAKAYLA SPARKS – For Whatcom Preps
LYNDEN – Despite a sweep from the county teams, it was all smiles and laughs in the Jake Maberry gym at Lynden High School. Senior basketball players from across Whatcom County, as well as some additional female players from Skagit County, gathered together on Friday for the opportunity to wear their high school jerseys and compete one last time.
Festivities kicked off at 6 pm with the girls taking center stage. Lynden’s Melanie Anderson and Nooksack Valley’s Kate Shintaffer booked tickets into the three-point contest finals and Shintaffer took the honors.
From there it was a two twenty-minute halves game for the girls. The county team took an early 9-0 lead but the score didn’t matter much after that. The girls had little care for the score as they leaned more into the fun factor than trying to win.
Lynden Christian seniors Grace Hintz and Makalie Tveter were able to put a happy ending on disappointing seasons. Hintz and Tveter had both missed the regular season due to preseason injuries but were able to suit up on Friday and collected a few minutes of playing time.
The County team won 69-51.
The boys took the court next and it wasn’t long before the gym was filled with the sound of rattling hoops as the boys started hitting dunks in warm-ups, a preshow to the dunk contest.
All eyes had been on Lynden Christian’s Gannon Dykstra and Lynden’s Brant Heppner during the regular season and nothing changed on Friday as the two faced off in the dunk contest finals. Heppner edged out Dykstra by a single point to take home the title but it’s worth noting that Meridian’s Talon Jenkins helped Heppner out along the way, offering a couple of assists and a lot of trust. It got quite a reaction from the crowd when Jenkins grabbed a chair and set up just in front of the hoop. It was an even bigger reaction when Heppner leaped over him to collect one of the high single dunk scores of the night.
The three-point contest finals also saw an interesting match up in the final round with regular season teammates Bellingham’s Gabe VanHofwegen and Kincade VanHouten, with VanHouten taking the win. Throughout the contest, VanHouten had knocked down an impressive 30 three-pointers during his three thirty-second rounds.
Shortly after the earlier friendly duo of Heppner and Jenkins turned to friendly fire as the two took nearly every opportunity they had to match up during the actual game. Heppner and Jenkins would lead their respective teams in scoring but similar to the girls’ game, little attention was paid to the scoreboard.
With Heppner giving out alley oops for Dykstra to dunk and Jenkins and Lynden Christian’s Luke VanKooten collecting three point shots from all around the arc, it was clear they were playing for something other than a win.
Lynden’s Jack Stapleton, who had played through foot injuries during the season, had been selected to play but was sat on the bench in street clothes. However, he still got his chance to be a part of the action putting up a shot from the bench but the ball unfortunately clinged off the rim.
Heppner, a four-year varsity player, wasn’t wasting his last opportunity on his home court as he smashed down four dunks and had the same number of triples as well as having a few shining moments of defense.
The game concluded with the County boys ahead 128-105 but it was all the smiling faces and laughs that told the story on this night.
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