Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Cashmere Bulldogs take Second Place at State

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March 1-4 was the basketball girls State tournament at the Yakima Valley SunDome. Cashmere took on La Center, Okanogan and Mount Baker during their time at the tournament and, ultimately, took Second place at State. This was the Cashmere girls’ first year playing in the State Championship game.

Cashmere vs La Center:

On Thursday, March 2, Cashmere played against the La Center Wildcats, a team who is 21-3 overall and ranked 38 in the state.

The first quarter saw great shots made by Cashmere including the first two 3-pointer shots by Sydnee Mongeon and Abbie Johnson.

Cashmere was in the lead 21-0 by the start of the second quarter.

The second quarter had La Center beginning to score a few points, with their #10 player, Molly Edwards scoring quite a few of the points.

This quarter saw a great 3-point shot scored by Cami Knishka and scores made by Johnson and Molly Thies. By half-time, Cashmere was leading 34-9, ending with a terrific 3-pointer made by Knishka.

The third quarter had two 3-pointers made by both Knishka and Van Lith. The third quarter ended with Cashmere leading 43-19.

Sydnee Mongeon scored a 3-pointer in the final quarter, along with Johnson and Thies continuing to help up Cashmere’s score.

The fourth quarter ended with the Cashmere girls walking away victoriously with the final score of 60-28.

Van Lith scored 6 points during the game, Knishka scored 5 and Johnson scored 4. Johnson and Van Lith both made 4 rebounds.

Cashmere vs Okanogan:

On Friday, March 3, Cashmere faced off against the Okanogan Bulldogs. Ranked 13 in the state, Okanogan is 22-5 overall in their season.

Throughout the first quarter of the game, Okanogan had the upper hand. Cashmere got a few points in, with Abbie Johnson, Sydnee Mongeon and Thies scoring baskets.

The first quarter also saw good layups made by Johnson and Van Lith.

At the end of the first quarter, Cashmere was down 5-14.

During the second quarter, the Cashmere girls remained down by quite a few points as Okanogan continued to up their score. Grace Hammond, Hailey Van Lith and Molly Thies kept adding to Cashmere’s score and half-time saw Okanogan in the lead 24-15.

The intensity began to heat up as the third quarter had Okanogan staying at 26 points while Cashmere started to catch up. Cashmere went from having 15 points at the start of the quarter to tying 26-26 with Okanogan by the end of the quarter, with Cami Knishka and Van Lith scoring a few of the points.

There was an excellent 3-pointer scored by Van Lith in the third quarter.

The final quarter of the game was just as intense as both teams remained close in score. But Cashmere pulled ahead and took control. They won their hard fought game 41-36.

Throughout the game against Okanogan, Van Lith was the game’s highest scoring teammate with a total of 9 points and 4 rebounds made. Johnson scored 6 points and 9 rebounds.

Cashmere vs Mount Baker:

Saturday, March 4 saw the Cashmere girls fighting against the Mount Baker Mountaineers for the First Place title in the State Championship game. The Mountaineers, ranked as 16th in the state and 20-4 this season, made the Championship game very fun and intense for the Bulldogs.

The heat was on right from the start as Mount Baker had a better start than Cashmere. Mount Baker worked hard and began scoring points quickly. The first half of the first quarter saw Mount Baker in the lead 15-6 and then it ended with Mount Baker leading 15-30.

When asked during half-time what he hopes to see improved during the second half, Coach Brent Darnell said that he just hopes that the girls ‘make good shots’ and to ‘play some defense’.

In the third quarter of the Championship game, Cashmere was tied with Mount Baker 34-34 before Cashmere began to up their score faster than they had before. The end of the third quarter saw the girls winning 40-34 thanks to a great play made by Hailey Van Lith.

The second half of the game did not calm down the craziness of the nearby audience members as they excitedly chanted for the girls to claim their #1 spot.

Both teams were neck to neck throughout the last ten minutes of the game. The score quickly changed from Cashmere being up 42-41 to Mount Baker being in the lead 45-42.

Ultimately, Mount Baker pulled ahead and won First Place in the State Championship game. The final score was 45-44 and Cashmere came in at Second Place.

“I’ve never seen a comeback like that,” Coach Darnell said of his girls in the last game. “This was the first game that I’ve ever lost where we forced the other team to more turnovers. We forced 21 turnovers and they only forced us to 8.”

According to Darnell, although he wished he’d seen the ball move around more, he was very pleased with the shots that the Bulldog girls took. Cashmere had even gotten in more offensive rebounds than Mount Baker during this game.

Darnell gave a huge credit to Mount Baker for how tough and competitive this game turned out to be.

“They did exactly to us what they did last time,” Darnell said.

Darnell is very proud of his team this year and how well they have done. He is especially proud of the seniors on his team.

“They’re one of the greatest group of seniors,” Darnell said. “I couldn’t ask for better leaders on and off the court.”

Darnell also expressed his gratitude towards the Cashmere community for supporting the girls like they have this year.

“I’m pretty grateful to coach basketball in a community that supports student athletes like Cashmere,” Darnell said.

Overall, this has been a very exciting and successful year for our lady Bulldogs.

“This was an outstanding year for our girls,” Darnell said.

Okanogan came in at third place at State. Lynden Christian took fourth, Granger came in at fifth and Bellevue Christian took sixth place.

 

Mikaila Wilkerson can be reached at reporter@cashmerevalleyrecord.com.

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