CENTRALIA — The Seton Catholic girls basketball team got a spark from an unexpected turn of events in Saturday’s Class 1A district championship game.
When Seton’s Hailey Hammerstrom and Riley Seymer each picked up their fourth foul minutes apart in the third quarter against Montesano, sending the team’s starting frontcourt to the bench, a fire was lit underneath the Cougars.
Montesano led 28-24 at the 2:30 mark of the third quarter when Seymer subbed out, yet the Cougars held the Bulldogs to just four points for the remainder of the game in an eventual 46-32 win at Centralia High School.
Seton Catholic claimed the program’s first district title in program history after losing to Montesano in the 2023 and 2024 district championship games. The Bulldogs were denied a fifth consecutive district title.
“This win was pretty awesome,” Seton Catholic junior Remy Jenniges said. “The last two years we’ve been on the losing side of it, so to be able to be down first half, come back, keep the energy up and just take it to them was awesome.”
One of the Cougars’ biggest strengths is their versatility, allowing them to mix and match different lineups with size and speed.
The Cougars’ speed-centric lineup of bench players Emma Whitehouse and CJ Moore, who joined starters Madison Lee, Tiffany Sheldon and Jenniges, turned out to be the Bulldogs’ kryptonite in the second half.
“Our bench has been playing really, really well,” Seton Catholic coach Phil Kent said. “We have a unique bench where we can go a couple different ways — we can go big, we can go small, really fast. CJ Moore, Emma Whitehouse, Naomi Jackson, they all came in and just gave us great minutes off the bench.”
A once-struggling Seton offense led by Seymer’s 17 points came to life thanks, in part, to a stifling defense that overwhelmed the Bulldogs and led to frequent runs in transition.
The Cougars went on an 18-0 run to put the game out of reach, starting with a Lee jumper to close the third quarter, followed by a Jenniges 3-pointer to give the Cougars a 31-30 lead less than a minute into the fourth. Sheldon, Moore and Whitehouse all added baskets during the stretch.
“It kind of almost felt like, with our best two bigs being out, someone had to pick it up,” Sheldon said. “So, I feel like our energy was really good on our bench and team-wide. We just kept going.”
The lineup worked so well together that Kent elected to keep them on the floor until late in the fourth when Seymer subbed back in.
Montesano was held without a point until the 1:43 mark of the fourth. Evanjillie Dalan led the Bulldogs with 16 points.
“That was the story of the night — defense sparked our offense,” Kent said. “Except for that first minute (of the first quarter) where we got some easy ones, the rest of the game we did not really shoot the ball well. But our defense turned into stops, transition points, easy buckets and that was the difference in the game.”
The Cougars now turn their attention to the 1A state opening round, a stage they’ve played on twice in as many years, but have fallen shy of reaching the Yakima Valley SunDome as one of the final 12 teams. This year, the Cougars plan on taking the next step.
“I’d say we’re really motivated — this is something we’ve been thinking about all year,” Lee said.
With a district championship in hand, the Cougars have a very strong case for a top-eight seed, which would guarantee them a trip to Yakima. Seedings for the 1A state tournament will be released Sunday.
SETON CATHOLIC 46, MONTESANO 32
SETON CATHOLIC (18-6) — Madison Lee 7, Kingsley Williams 0, CJ Moore 6, Naomi Jackson 0, Silvia Pujol 0, Remy Jenniges 6, Tegan Figueroa 0, Tiffany Sheldon 3, Emma Whitehouse 7, Hailey Hammerstrom 0, Riley Seymer 17. Totals 19 (3) 5-12 46.
MONTESANO (17-7) — Josie Forster 2, Jordyn Perry 0, Jordyn Wade 0, Tieander Olson 5, Hazel Jones 2, Makena Blancas 3, Ava Schrader 4, Evanjillie Dalan 16, Regan Wintrip 0, Ali Parkin 0, Paige Busz 0. Totals 13 (1) 5-16 32.
Seton Catholic 9 6 13 18—46
Montesano 8 12 10 2—32
