The Doug Lange Network 

February 15, 2019 

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The Lynden Lions are heading back to the 2A State. The girls and boys basketball squads punched their tickets with victories over Burlington Friday in a doubleheader at Jake Mabery Gymnasium in Lynden. 

 

Same teams, same result, but very different games. 

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The Lynden girls battled back from 7 down in the 4th quarter to edge the Tigers 43-40. The boys turned in a defensive gem, thumping Burlington 63-to-38. Both squads now move on to the district 1 title games Saturday night at Mount Vernon High School. 

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The first game of the night featured a low scoring affair between the top 2 girls squads out of the 2A ranks of the Northwest Conference.  Neither Burlington or Lynden would lead by more than 7 and couldn't pull away as both struggled mightily from long range. 

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MORE: Listen to our Lynden/Burlington girls archived broadcast

 

But when the Lions needed a triple-shot, they got it. Trailing by 1, Ruby VanderHaak hit a go-ahead 3-ball with just over 30 seconds left to play to put Lynden out in front. A tying three attempt by Burlington guard Katie King fell short at the buzzer.

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"For us to come back like that...we haven't had  a close game like that quite yet. For us to finish a game that we needed was very big for our team for sure," said VanderHaak.  

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Livia Tjoelker led 3 Lions in double-figure scoring with 12 points. Kylie Hershey had 11 and VanderHaak added 10. Burlington was led by the 13 points from King.  

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With the win, the Lynden girls (19-3) advance to the state tournament for the 12th time in the last 13 seasons. A fact not lost on Lions coach Rob Adams. 

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"It's not a right of passage, although people think it is...it is not," said Adams. "It takes a lot of hard work and it's tough to get there, so we'll enjoy this one for tonight." 

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Lynden will play Archbishop Murphy Saturday night in the girls district championship game. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30pm at Mount Vernon High School. 

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The nightcap featured the second match-up off the year between the Lynden and Burlington boys. The script was very similar to the 73-44 Lions win on January 10th during the regular season. A stifling defense helped Lynden jump out in front early and run away from the Tigers. 

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MORE: Listen to our Lynden/Burlington boys archived broadcast

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Kobe Elsner hit two early 3-balls as Lynden got out to a 19-to-7 first quarter lead. The Lions limited the tigers to just single digits in scoring in the first two quarters. 

 

The defense held Burlington to 40% shooting from the floor and just 27% from beyond the arc.  The Lions also forced 14 steals on the night.

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Clayton Whitman paced the Lynden attack with 17 points. Blake Silves added 14. 

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"Coach just said play defense and the offensive game will come to you, so I definitely grinded on defense and things just happened," said Silves. 

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After picking up their 21st victory on the year, Lynden (21-1) moves on to the district title game Saturday. The defending 2A state champs will play Anacortes at 7:00pm at Mount Vernon High School. 

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- Doug Lange 

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