HS Hoops: Bearcats and T-Birds split girl/boy doubleheader

1/6/2025

(Tumwater, WA) The Chehalis Bearcats traveled to Tumwater on Tuesday to play a girls/boys doubleheader. The girls were first followed by the boys. Both of our game stories, scoring stats, postgame show, video highlights and photos are below.

Girls Game

WF West 52, Tumwater 27

The WF West Bearcats faced a bothersome T-Bird defense who created several turnovers and slowed down the Cats offense. Despite the defense of Tumwater the Bearcats grinded out 14 points in the 1st quarter, led by the 7 of Dilyn Boeck. The Cats defense was also smothering along with some cold shooting for the ‘Birds and held them to just 3 for a 14-3 lead after the first 8 minutes.

In the 2nd quarter, the T-Birds flipped the script and had their best output of the game racking up 17 points. The T-Bird defense remained stingy holding Chehalis to 11 and closing the gap at halftime to a 5 point game with the Bearcats up 25-20. Maesyn Williams led Tumwater with 7 at the break while Boeck had 9 for WF West.

After some adjustments at halftime, the favored Bearcats showed up and ran wild dumping 26 points, more than doubling their 1st half offense. The Cats defense returned to their stifling ways holding Tumwater scoreless until late in the quarter and built a 49-24 lead. The reserves then came in and the final 8 minutes was limited to 3 points for each side.

The Bearcats chalked up their 7th win to improve to 7-4 on the season and now 1-0 in EVCO 2A play. The T-Birds begin league play 0-1 and are 5-6 overall. The Bearcats will next host Black Hills on Thursday in a game you can watch on the ESN/NFHS Networks. Tumwater is on the road Thursday at Centralia.

Thorbeckes MVP of the Game

The Thorbeckes MVP of the game had several candidates from leading scorer Dilyn Boeck with 14, to Joy Cushman who knocked down 10 and Kaitlyn Chloupek also with 10. But the crew liked the all-around game and hustle of Hadley Hoffman with 9 points, 5-5 at the line, 5 rebounds and 2 steals. Hadley was our Thorbeckes MVP.

Scoring
WF West: Dilyn Boeck 14, Joy Cushman 10, Kaitlyn Chloupek 10, Hadley Hoffman 9, Madi Baine 3, Izzy Teeter 2, Caroline Buzzard 2, Madi McManus 1, Drees Cushman 1
Tumwater: Maesyn Williams 7, Claire Buono 7, Kamryn Wilson 4, Malia Eggers 4, Reece Brewer 3, Anden Demaris 2

Link to watch the full game replay on the NFHS Network (subscription required)

ESN Postgame Show

Video Highlights

T-Bird girls keepin it close before halftime

Bearcats begin to pull away in the 3rd

Bearcats girls pour it on in the 3rd

Photo Gallery

Boys Game

Tumwater 60, WF West 51

The T-Birds and Bearcats used a deep rotation in this game with each team having 9 players get in the scorebook. Both teams dealt with either foul trouble or injury. WF West lost starting forward Cody Schwarz to an apparent ankle injury in the 1st half for the rest of the game. The two squads battled to an 18-18 tie after the 1st quarter. Luke McMillan sank a pair of 3 balls to lead the Bearcats while Julien Balsley and Luke Overbay each had 5 for the T-Birds.

Tumwater was able to pull away a little bit in the 2nd quarter edging out to a 6 point lead at the break. Balsley stepped up with 6 more points to lead all-scorers at the half with 11. Jake Reid had a pair of 3 balls for the half and Braeden Konrad put in 6 as well. Blake Hampton hit a 3 ball and had 6 to lead the Bearcats with McMillan. Both teams had 8 players score in the 1st half.

WF West came out with some tenacious defense in the 3rd quarter holding Tumwater to just 7 points while Chehalis cut the deficit in half with 10 points of their own in the 3rd to trail 43-40. The T-Birds also helped missing multiple free throw attempts.

In the 4th quarter, Julien Balsley kept up his pressure and scored 4 more to finish with a game high 17 points but it was off the bench sharp-shooter Tyler Johnson who hit a 3 late in the 3rd and then knocked down 3 more long balls in the 4th to give the T-Bird offense that punch they had been looking for all game and put them over the top to pull out the 9 point win.

The Bearcats didn’t give in with a huge effort from Wyatt Hoffman scoring 5 of his 11 in the final 8 minutes and Race Rockey with 6 of his 10 for the game but that wasn’t enough. Ethan Bello put away the game for Tumwater with a break-away slam.

The T-Birds recorded the win and held big advantages in stats with a 31-18 lead in rebounds, 12-6 in steals but the equalizer was the poor shooting at the free throw line where Tumwater could have opened up on the Bearcats a lot sooner shooting just 9 of 21 or just 43% from the line. Chehalis coulod have stayed a little closer as they didn’t set any records at the line either going 8 of 16 for 50%.

Tumwater gets their opening EVCO 2A win and is now 7-1 on the season. The T-Birds will travel to Foss in another non-league game and then host Centralia on Friday for their 4th game of the week.

WF West drops to 3-7 for the season and begins league play 0-1. The Bearcats next play on Friday at Black Hills.

Thorbeckes MVP of the Game

The Thorbeckes MVP of the game was all Julian Balsley until Tyler Johnson lit of the nets and our crew gave Johnson the slight nod over a terrific game played by Balsley. Johnson offesnsive explosion was too much to overlook. Had the Bearcats won then Wyatt Hoffman or Race Rockey would have been the final 2 candidates.

Scoring
Tumwater: Julien Balsley 17, Tyler Johnson 12, Luke Overbay 7, Jake Reid 6, Braeden Konrad 6, Landon Anchors 4, Ethan Bello 4, Grady Wall 2, Owen Reamer 2
WF West: Wyatt Hoffman 11, Race Rockey 10, Fox Rogerson 6, Hayden Rooney 6, Blake Hampton 6, Luke McMillan 6, Jack Becker 5, Gage Grisham 1

Link to watch the full game replay on the NFHS Network (subscription required)

ESN Postgame Show