EVERSON — Nooksack Valley girls basketball exacted its revenge on Friday night, winning the 1A state title rematch over Lynden Christian 66-52.
The Pioneers controlled the game from first whistle to the final buzzer. Junior post Tana Hoekema led NV with 20 points, followed by 19 from junior guard Devin Coppinger.
“We played great tonight,” said NV coach Shane Wichers. “Offensively, we had lots of different people hitting big shots at different times. I think we did a lot of little things really well that added up to big things.”
It was a statement win for the Pioneers, who still feel like they have something to prove after the 57-56 loss to LC in the 2022 1A state championship game.
“I think it just shows who we are and how hard we’re willing to fight to get to where we want to be,” Coppinger said of the 14-point win.
LC was led by a game-high 29 points from sophomore Grace Hintz.
The Lyncs never held an advantage in a game that saw NV lead by as much as 23 midway through the fourth quarter. Hintz went on a nine-point rampage near the end of the game to trim the final margin a bit.
“We thought we could contain [Hintz] — we didn’t,” Wichers said. “She’s a fantastic player and can score on a lot of different levels. But she takes a lot of that scoring burden on.”
Seniors Reganne Arnold and Demi Dykstra each scored seven points for LC, but no Lyncs other than Hintz managed double digits in the scorebook.
That effort was thanks to an improving Pioneers defense that held opponents to an incredible 35.3 points per game entering the contest.
“We focused on Grace [Hintz] and shutting her down, and she still had a great game,” Coppinger said. “It was really our defense, and we pride ourselves on that.”
LC, which entered the third quarter trailing 29-22, saw the game begin to slip away when the Pioneers scored the period’s first seven points — a solid lead quickly became a big one.
The Lyncs scored 15 points in the third quarter, but they allowed the Pioneers to explode for 25 behind an eight-point period from Hoekema.
“Our offense got very stagnant for long periods of time,” LC coach Brady Bomber said. “We were not able to generate the space and the shots that we need to be efficient on offense.”
The win doesn’t remove the chip from the Pioneers’ shoulder, Coppinger said. They want it there as long as it takes to win a championship.
“It’s still there,” Coppinger added. “We’re going to keep that.”
NV junior guard/post Lainey Kimball added nine points for the Pioneers. Senior guard Hallie Kamphouse contributed eight.
The Pioneers moved to 12-1 overall on the season (7-0 Northwest Conference) and will travel to Squalicum (4-7, 2-4 NWC) on Monday, Jan. 9, at 7:15 p.m.
LC fell to 10-2 overall (5-1 NWC) with its first league loss of the season. The Lyncs, who have lost two of their last three games after beginning 8-0, will host Anacortes (6-4, 5-1 NWC) on Jan. 9, also at 7:15 p.m.
“A lot of the credit goes to [NV] for making it hard on our offense,” Bomber said. “But there are certainly things we’re going to have to do better going forward from this game and [the loss to] Eastlake that have stalled our offense out.”
