If you were lucky enough to be in Yakima last weekend, you saw some great basketball, as well as three of our local high school teams cut down the nets and be crowned state champions. Tonight, at 6:15 PM, Lynden High School will be hosting the 32nd Annual Basketball Classic. That means you will be able to watch all of Whatcom County’s finest girl and boy senior basketball players one last time, in one extraordinary night!
The girls game will be first, and it will pit the “City” Girls against the “County” Girls. The city team boasts a pair of All-NWC 1st Team selections in Meridian’s Ellesse Fitzgerald and Squalicum’s Chalae Wolters. They will joined by Fitzgerald’s Trojan teammates, Tanis Harrison and Kyrin Baklund, as well as Wolters’ Storm teammate, Josie Andert. Ferndale’s Carmelita Rodriguez and Peyton Humbert, Sehome’s Sarah Eisses and Carissa McDowell and Lummi’s Janyha Ell complete a strong team that has a good mixture of height and guard-play, which will be coached by Aaron & Jen Dickson.
The county team is loaded with talent, acclaim and state championship hardware. They will be led by the NWC’s Most Outstanding Player, Nooksack Valley’s Katrina Gimmaka. They also have last year’s Most Outstanding Player in Lynden Christian’s Avery Dykstra. Dykstra, and her LC teammates Sam VanLoo (All-NWC 1st Team) and Riley VanHulzen, just capped off a 28-0 season by winning the 1A state championship, and now have this final high school game to play in front of a Whatcom County crowd. Also on the county team will be All-NWC 2nd Team selections; Natalie Amos of Lynden and McKenzie Yost from Mount Baker. Rounding out the team are Amos’ Lynden teammate, Sierra Smith, Yost’s teammate, Jordan LaTorre, as well as Blaine seniors, Josie Deming and Alexis Hallberg. The height advantage goes to this team, with half of it’s roster standing 5’11” or taller! They will be coached by Rick DeGraaff and Dave Hommes.
The boys’ city team doesn’t have a ton of size, but has plenty of quickness. It will be led by Squalicum’s Kendall Englehart and Ferndale’s James Hinson. Both players were named All-NWC 1st Team. They will be joined by Meridian’s Bailey Hodge and TJ Dykstra, Bellingham’s Caden Mee and Rits Vouet, Ferndale’s AJ Rankin and Reid Benson, Squalicum’s Eric Monahan and Sehome’s Evan Kingma. They will be coached by Dick Stark and Tony Larsen.
The boys’ county team has a lot size (half of the team is 6’6″ or taller), and four state champions. Lynden’s Trey LaBounty and Noah Walker, combine with Lynden Christian’s Jordan Riddle and George DeJong to bring the state championship pedigree. They will be joined by the All-NWC 1st Team, backboard shattering, Nooksack Valley star, Casey Bauman, and his Pioneer teammate Jordan Veening. As well as the Mount Baker duo of Ethan Gates and Thomas Barbo, Blaine’s Cory Luce and Lummi’s Mike Washington. They will be coached by Jerry Blankers and Rob Kildall.
Also, there will be a three-point shooting and slam dunk contest, so it should be quite the show! I’ll never forget at the 1996 Basketball Classic when Mount Baker’s Joel Perry took off from the free throw line to win the dunk contest, just a few weeks after Brent Barry did the same to win the NBA dunk contest. It promises to be a fun evening of basketball for all of Whatcom County!
