District championships: Young Lincoln Abes win 3A district title, North Thurston rolls
Here are recaps of the Class 3A boys and 3A girls District 3/4 high school bsaketball championship games, as well as the 2A boys District 3 championship game, played at Mount Tahoma High School on Saturday.
A lot has been made about Lincoln's talented trio of young guards, but the team's frontcourt has been quietly productive, too. In Lincoln's 3A District 3/4 championship game against Auburn Mountainview at Mount Tahoma on Saturday night, junior forward Kasey Williams was in attack mode from the start.
He scored 20 points — 10 in the first half and 10 in the second — setting the tone in Lincoln's 70-55 win.
'I just knew everything I did, in the back of my mind was cutting the net,' Williams said, smiling. 'Had to do it.'
Also a standout football player for the Abes, Williams is actually the veteran presence in Lincoln's starting five. He's a junior. The other four starters: freshman guard Davion Shareef-Dulaney, sophomore guard O'Shea Lamar, sophomore guard Trey Collier and freshman forward Justus Holt.
Whether he considers himself a seasoned veteran or not, Lincoln coach Ryan Rogers agreed Williams' energy was an important factor in the win. It was the first district championship for Rogers as a head coach.
'Just endless energy, giving everything he has, playing defense, rebounding, scoring, getting buckets, creating, he's just doing whatever it takes to help the team win and embracing that junkyard dog kind of role,' Rogers said.
Auburn Mountainview led by a point at halftime, but the Abes outscored the Lions 23 to nine in the third period, effectively putting the game out of reach. Auburn Mountainview guard Kolven Posey scored 20 and 6-foot-6 senior guard Sebastian Arius — the 3A NPSL MVP this winter — added 17, but otherwise it was mostly quiet for the Lions.
Lincoln was paced by 22 points from freshman guard Davion Shareef-Dulaney, Williams added 20, Justus Holt scored 14 and O'Shea Lamar chipped in 10.
It all added up to another Lincoln win in front of a sellout crowd at Mount Tahoma High. The crowds seem to be getting bigger and bigger the more this group wins.
Next up: the state tournament regional round, then a trip down the hill to the Tacoma Dome for the 3A state tournament. Lincoln will almost certainly be a lock for a top eight seed when regional brackets are released on Sunday, which will guarantee a spot at the Dome.
The Abes are young, but they won't just be happy to be there. The expectation?
'Win it all,' Williams said. 'That's it.'
White River cut into the deficit at various points in the second half, but the Hornets kept running into the same problem everyone else has against North Thurston this season: there's just too much firepower from the team in purple and white.
North Thurston beat White River 73-65, thanks to a balanced offensive night.
'It's great,' North Thurston senior guard Grace Lee said. 'We've been here three times these past three years and we've always come short but this time we just have something different and I think we've all just played as a team and I think that's really showed in this game.'
Shayla Cordis, who was stellar in the district tournament, scored a team-high 24 points, guard Soraya Ogaldez added 18 and Lee added 16 for the Rams.
'We have so many threats on our team, when we get everybody involved, we can't be stopped,' Lee said. 'It's really hard to stop us.'
North Thurston has won 26 straight after dropping its season opener to Olympia. Guard Maggee Schmitz led White River in scoring with a game-high 25 points, while post Vivian Kingston added 17.
With the addition of Cordis (Timberline transfer) this season, North Thurston has the pieces to make a run at the 3A state tournament at the Tacoma Dome.
'We have a lot more energy this year and I think it's going to be a good year for us,' Lee said.
Jalen Davis: as good as advertised. Bremerton's sophomore guard showed why he's regarded as one of the state's top young players on Saturday afternoon, putting on a scoring clinic in Bremerton's breezy 66-34 win over Franklin Pierce in the 2A District 3 championship game.
Davis scored from beyond the arc, at the rim and everywhere in between, asking questions from the tip against a Franklin Pierce offense that had no answers on Saturday afternoon.
'It means a lot,' Davis said. 'We finally accomplished one of our goals this season. It feels great.'
Perhaps more impressive was Bremerton's effort on the defensive end and with its full-court press, though. The Knights forced the Cardinals into constant turnovers and never let Franklin Pierce settle in offensively.
'We got the defense and we got the momentum from the crowd and we just got it from there,' Davis said. '(The press) helped us a lot and took them out of their rhythm.'
Davis scored a game-high 30 points. Javon Barbee led Franklin Pierce in scoring with 18 points. Both teams are safely through to the 2A state tournament.
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