2/21/26
(Tacoma, WA) All six spots in both girls and boys basketball out of District 3 3A were already set going into Saturday but two games remained to determine who would be crowned as district champions. With one last opportunity to impress the seeding committee, four teams made their way to Mount Tahoma High School to try to add “District Champion” to their resume before the brackets were released on Sunday.
North Thurston 61, Enumclaw 52
In the first of our championship doubleheader it would be the North Thurston Rams looking to defend their title against a very strong and hungry Enumclaw Hornets team. North Thurston rolled to a district title last year with an impressive win over the White River Hornets who they also had to defeat in the semifinals this year to get back to the title game. Enumclaw returned to the title game in their second year back up in the 3A classification and used a big 4th quarter to knock off Gig Harbor in their semifinal victory on Wednesday.
North Thurston began the game on a little 4-0 run but that was when the Enumclaw Hornets flipped a switch. The Hornets scored 13 in a row and it all started with a three from Logan Girias. Emma Holt and Ava Smith also established themselves as a problem for North Thurston to deal with in the paint and that three-headed monster of Girias along with Holt and Smith had the Hornets dominating the 1st quarter. North Thurston would get their offense back going but it was Enumclaw in control after one, 19-9.
Enumclaw continued to find success early in the 2nd quarter as well as Girias could not miss from the mid-range. Ava Smith had to sit out with a little bit of foul trouble, but Emma Holt would continue to dominate the boards for the Hornets anyway. Girias would get an assist on a bucket by Halle Martel that put Enumclaw up 28-13. That was when Shayla Cordis began to take over. Her defense led to offense and North Thurston stole all the momentum at the end of the half. An 11-0 run for the Rams completely changed the tone of the game at halftime as the Rams cut their deficit to just four with Enumclaw leading 28-24 at the break.
A circus shot for Shayla Cordis began the second half and made it a two-point game at 28-26. Things started going Enumclaw’s way right after that. Smith and Holt began to play a two post game that dominated North Thurston as the Rams continued to have no answer to the height of the Hornets. A 10-0 run pushed Enumclaw’s lead to 12 before a North Thurston timeout. Out of the timeout, it was all Shayla Cordis and the Rams. A three by Jae Jae Cherry was the first three-pointer of the game for the Rams but Shayla Cordis would be the star of the show. The senior scored 16 points in the 3rd quarter alone, including a go-ahead three to make it 43-40. That gave the Rams their first lead since it was 4-3 in the opening quarter and Sierra Cordis joined the party as the Rams opened that lead up. Going into the 4th quarter it would be North Thurston in control, 50-41.
North Thurston’s focus in the final quarter was to slow the game down, take the air out of the ball, and kill as much clock on their offensive possessions as possible. It worked for the most part until Logan Girias got dialed back in and began to stretch the floor for the Hornets. Disaster would strike however for the Rams as both Ava Smith and point guard Callie Almli fouled out in the final quarter of play. North Thurston would not seal the game from the free throw line, but offensive rebounds on their missed free throws did put the game away. For the second consecutive season, North Thurston would beat the Hornets, this time it was Enumclaw, as the Rams defended their title, 61-52.
Our Sumner Holiday Inn Express MVP of the game went to Shayla Cordis for North Thurston. Always a menace on defense, the senior lit it up scoring a game-high 32 points including 16 in the 3rd quarter where the Rams took the lead for good. A fantastic facilitator as well, Cordis checked all the boxes in a championship level performance on Saturday night.
Scoring
Enumclaw: Emma Holt 17, Logan Girias 16, Ava Smith 10, Callie Almli 4, Halle Martel 4, Kaidyn Johnson 1
North Thurston: Shayla Cordis 32, Sierra Cordis 11, Aira Hardy 10, Lillianna Bonnin 4, Jae Jae Cherry 4
Link to watch full game replay on the NFHS Network (subscription required)
ESN Postgame Show
Highlights
Shayla Cordis Hits Circus And 1
Enumclaw Extends Lead to 12
Cordis Three Gives Rams the Lead
Lincoln 81, Auburn Mountainview 50
In the nightcap, it would be a rematch of last year’s District 3 3A boys basketball championship game as the Lincoln Abes would aim to repeat against the revenge fueled Auburn Mountainview Lions. Lincoln came into the District Tournament as the #3 seed and downed Todd Beamer in the quarterfinals before getting a big 4th quarter Daveon Shareef-Dulaney to push the Abes by Enumclaw. Auburn Mountainview was the #4 seed in districts and had a couple of three-point wins over Gig Harbor in the quarterfinals before upsetting Bellarmine in the semis.
Lincoln scored the first four points of the game, all from Kasey Williams but just like in their semifinal win, Auburn Mountainview responded with four in a row right after. It was a back-and-forth opening quarter with Davion Shareef-Dulaney and Jarrick Matthews trading threes while Kolven Posey would be the leading scorer for the Lions, hitting a great pull-up to give the Lions their first lead at 15-13. Shareef-Dulaney answered back however and we ended the opening quarter tied at 15-15.
It was more of the same in the 2nd as Lincoln began to wear down Auburn Mountainview in the paint. Kasey Williams and Justus Holt dominated on the glass and inside with point blank looks and easy buckets. Jalan Lillie hit a big three which seemed to spark the Abes after Cody Bennion hit one for Auburn Mountainview. The Lions then went cold around the midway point of the quarter while Lincoln continued to find consistent success on offense while their defense made things extremely difficult for Auburn Mountainview. Lincoln would end the half on a run and took a 38-30 lead into halftime.
The momentum that Lincoln built at the end of the 2nd quarter carried through into the second half as the Abes took complete control of the game in the 3rd quarter. Everyone was hot for Lincoln as they poured in shot after shot while Auburn Mountainview could not buy a bucket on offense. The Abes defense forced the Lions to take jumpers and Auburn Mountainview continued to try to force the threes but just could not find the bottom of the net. Oshea Lamar joined the scoring assault for Lincoln while Holt, Williams, and Shareef-Dulaney continued to pile on the points. A 25-6 quarter pushed Lincoln way out in front as they had a commanding 63-36 lead moving into the 4th.
There just wasn’t much Auburn Mountainview could do against Lincoln on Saturday night. To be fair to the Lions, it didn’t seem like anyone would be able to hang with Lincoln as the Abes relentlessly scored at will. Rebounding domination made things even easier for the Abes as even when they missed a shot, which was rare, they would get an offensive board and just put another shot back up and in. Even when they cleared out the bench late, Lincoln continued to score as Noah Dennis and Jace Williams found ways to put up points. It was all Lincoln for the final 16 minutes of this one as the Abes would successfully defend their district crown with an 81-50 win over Auburn Mountainview.
The Sumner Holiday Inn Express MVP of the game went to Justus Holt for Lincoln. The sophomore dominated the paint all game long as he and Kasey Williams were too much for the Lions on the offensive end of the floor. Holt also cleaned up the boards and had multiple blocks and steals in the paint to force the Lions to take jumpers all game long.
All four teams will now await to see who and where they will play in the regional round of the state tournament next weekend. All four should be safe from playing in the elimination games on Tuesday with the 3A tournament consisting of 20 teams. The brackets will be revealed on Sunday and we will have a breakdown of the regional round by both classification and by location on Sunday evening.
Scoring
Auburn Mountainview: Kolven Posey 14, Markel Lowery 11, Tavish Harrell 7, Cody Bennion 5, Dale Jones 4, Champ Huerta 4, Jarrick Matthews 3, Ousman Bojang 2
Lincoln: Kasey Williams 18, Davion Shareef-Dulaney 17, Justus Holt 15, Jace Williams 8, Jalan Lillie 7, Oshea Lamar 7, Jaiden Williams 5, Noah Dennis 4
Link to watch full game replay on the NFHS Network (subscription required)
ESN Postgame Show
Highlights
Posey Gives Lions the Lead
Lincoln Alley-oop
Lincoln Pulls Away
elisportsnetwork.com
