By Makayla Sparks
Friday night was a special night for Northwest Conference Basketball as multiple games across the conference honored those who had, or have, cancer in the annual Coaches vs Cancer games. One of these games was played at Bellingham High School where the Bayhawks’ quick start set the tone in a 72-45 victory over the Mount Baker Mountaineers.
The Bayhawks showed off their powerful offense from the start. Bellingham junior Satchel Craig took the opening tip-off from sophomore Kincade Vanhouten which would help set up junior Wyatt Stephan for the first basket of the game. Three minutes and forty seconds after the tip-off, the Bayhawks had climbed to a 16-4 lead and didn’t look back as they ended the quarter up, 24-8.
Mount Baker put the pressure on Bellingham during the second quarter as they kept the scoring within 16 points of the aggressive Bayhawks. The second quarter ended with a Bellingham 40-23 lead and a lot more game to play.
The third quarter saw more pressure from Mount Baker as they once again kept the scoring tight, scoring 13 points to Bellingham’s 14 points.
Mountie senior Kaden Hill finished the quarter with a buzzer-beating three-pointer that brought the total score to 54-36.
With the game mostly determined, Bellingham began to pull away again in the fourth quarter.
The Bayhawks put up 18 points and held the Mountaineers to just nine as both teams started bringing more players from their benches. Mount Baker had the last possession of the game but Bellingham would be the team adding a tally to their win column at the end of the night.
More than half of Bellingham’s points came from outside of the arc as the Bayhawks drained 13 three-pointers on the night. Their scoring was led by sophmore Harmon Wienkers who had 18 points, 12 of which came from behind the three-point line. Wienkers was helped out in the scoring column by junior Ian O’Roarty with 14 points and senior Grayson Stone with 11 points. Vanhouten also added 11 points of his own to the score.
Mount Baker’s scoring leader was senior post player Ethan Larson who put up 13 points on the night. He was helped by senior Jacob Wade who had 11 points, and Hill who had 6 points, all of which came from outside the arc.
Mount Baker’s next game will be against Oak Harbor on Monday, January 30th, at Mount Baker High School. Bellingham’s next game is against Burlington-Edison at Burlington-Edison High School on Tuesday, January 31st.
