Mount Si boys, Woodinville girls continue to rule 4A KingCo basketball in February

The No. 2 Wildcats jump on Skyline, 71-62, in the league tournament title game while the reigning Class 4A girls champions beat Eastlake, 56-46, at Lake Washington High School

KIRKLAND, Wash. - Senior forward Miles Heide set the tone of Saturday’s 4A KingCo championship game against Skyline right off the opening tip, violently throwing down an alley-oop dunk to give his team an early lead.

The second-ranked Wildcats (20-2) would never trail, leading by as many as 24 points - and winning going away, 71-62.

The No. 7 Spartans got the better of the Wildcats in the first meeting between the two teams this season, but Mount Si has dominated the most recent two matchups.

"I think when we played them at their place, we didn’t realize how good they were," Mount Si boys coach Jason Griffith said. "They’re a really good basketball team. It’s good for us to play with that kind of speed. What they present is different for our league. I felt like our kids for 3½ quarters did a good job."

The win gave the Wildcats their fourth consecutive 4A KingCo championship, which has been part of a string of great success for the Wildcats that has seen them make three WIAA championship games, winning one back in 2019-20.

"I’m just proud of the kids," Griffith said "We’ve got to check records, but I didn’t know if a team has won four straight KingCo championships in a row. We talked about making history and creating a legacy, not just for our program, but for this team, so I’m just super-proud of them."

The Wildcats had the inside-outside game working throughout the contest. Junior Blake Forrest was locked in from behind the perimeter, while Heide and senior forward Cyrus Turley handled the bulk of the work inside. Heide led the Wildcats with 15 points, while Forrest added 13 points and Turley had 10.

"It’s huge," Griffith said of his team’s offensive balance. "You saw tonight, Miles is a lot more than a kid who can just run up and down the floor and catch lobs. He made some beautiful passes and reads. Cyrus Turley was great tonight. He just keeps getting better and better as our season goes on. But we know our strength is to be able to go inside and out. Not a lot of teams have a guy like Miles."

One of the highlights for the Wildcats was at the end of the second quarter when Forrest nailed a ¾-court shot to give his team a 41-25 lead at halftime.

"I was trying to throw it up before the end of the half," Forrest said. "I’ll take it, though."

The Wildcats led by 24 points early in the fourth quarter, but the Spartans rallied late in the quarter getting to within nine, but there simply wasn’t enough time to pull off the comeback.

"I mean, at the end of the day, our guys had to execute," Griffith said. "Nothing changed. Our guys got a little rattled, but I felt like they cleaned it up a little bit towards the end and finished it off."

WOODINVILLE GIRLS GET KINGCO TITLE NO. 6 ... IN A ROW

Photo by Vince Miller

The defending Class 4A champions know how to win big games - and did with a 56-46 victory over Eastlake.

The second-ranked Falcons held the No. 6 Wolves scoreless for the first six minutes of the second quarter and went on a 12-0 run in the process to create all the separation they would need in what was otherwise a very competitive game.

“Ava (Schmidt), their top player, had to sit a couple of minutes and I remember we hit a couple of big three balls during that time,” Woodinville girls coach Scott Bullock said. “We didn’t do anything special, but that was a big quarter for us. We got a little separation, and we were able to keep that separation the rest of the game.”

The win gave the Falcons their sixth consecutive KingCo championship, just part of a run of dominance for them that has included several deep runs at the state tournament in Tacoma. Bullock credited his players for the string of success.

"You need good kids," Bullock said. "We’ve just been really fortunate that we’ve had good kids and we have a great community. We put lot of emphasis on just having fun together. If you have fun together, kids want to be a part of that fun. I can’t say we can sustain it forever, but we’ve had really good kids and families. It takes a village, and I’ve got great assistant coaches and they all fill a little bit of a different role."

Junior post Jacey Eggers and junior guard Lyla Kahrimanovic each scored 19 points to lead the Falcons.