WOODLAND — In the past 15 years, the W.F. West girls basketball team has assembled a legacy.
The Bearcats expect league titles. They expect to compete for district titles. They expect to pack their bags for the state tournament in Yakima every winter.
And in the last three years, they expect Dilyn Boeck to do Dilyn Boeck things when it matters most.
The 2025-26 EvCo MVP put the Bearcats on her back in a District 4 2A Tournament semifinal against Woodland Monday, as the junior tallied 32 points, including 19 in the second half, to lead W.F. West to a 76-46 triumph.
With the victory, W.F. West has now qualified for its 10th straight state tournament and will physically appear at its ninth in a row, as it technically qualified for the 2020-21 state tournament, but it was not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Bearcats have also qualified for 14 state tournaments in the last 15 years.
“It’s a legacy thing. We expect so much out of ourselves,” Boeck said. “We won district championships the last two years. We want a third one this year.”
Things didn’t start so rosy for Boeck and the Bearcats in the first quarter against Woodland. After Hadley Hoffman capitalized on a Beavers turnover with a layup on the opening possession, Woodland settled in against the potent W.F. West defense. The Beavers rattled the Bearcats by knocking down 3 of 4 attempts from 3-point range in the opening quarter, and, at one point, they led by seven with just over two minutes left in the first.
According to Boeck, the Bearcats were “really frantic” in the first quarter as Woodland led 17-13 through one. W.F. West coach Kyle Karnofski attributed the problems to both uncharacteristic play by his team, as they shot 5 of 13 from the field and turned it over five times, but also an energetic start by Woodland.
“Woodland came ready to go. They took the first punch at us,” Karnofski said. “We had to battle back from that. Kudos to them. They had a good plan.”
Kaitlyn Chloupek helped W.F. West regain the lead in the second quarter, kindling a 13-3 run to push the visitors ahead by six midway through the period. Madi McManus also hit a corner 3-pointer during that spurt, a bucket that Boeck said “really got us going.”
After starting just 1 for her first 5, Boeck heated up at the end of the first half. She knocked down a 3-pointer, an easy layup and a jumper to give W.F. West a 35-26 advantage at the break. Although W.F. West sparked a 13-point turnaround from the first quarter to the second and outscored Woodland 22-9 in the second quarter, the Bearcats knew they had much more in the tank.
“At halftime, I said, ‘I’m sure none of us are pleased right now, but we still have 16 minutes to fix that. Take care of business on our terms, and let us dictate what’s going on,’” Karnofski said. “I challenged them. I said, ‘Hey, it’s gut-check time.’”
Boeck answered that challenge.
After Joy Cushman scored the opening bucket of the half off Woodland’s 15th turnover of the night, the Beavers crept back with seven unanswered points to cut the margin that was once 11 down to four. Boeck then went ballistic, scoring nine of W.F. West’s final 11 points of the quarter to kick the lead back to 11 through three quarters.
Her third-quarter scoring spree was capped off by a wicked stepback 3-pointer from the top of the key just before the halftime buzzer.
“When she gets in that state where she’s got the ability to knock down shots, there’s a reason she’s the league MVP,” Karnofski said.
But Boeck was far from finished. She scored twice as many points as Woodland in the fourth quarter, as she put up 10 of W.F. West’s 24 compared to the Beavers’ five in the final stanza. In the second half, Boeck scored 19 points on 8 of 13 shooting, including 3 of 5 from beyond the arc.
The star junior wasn’t alone. Both Caroline Buzzard and Drees Cushman fell into early foul trouble, and W.F. West got valuable contributions from the likes of Chloupek, Izzy Teeter, Mallory Gaskill, McManus and Hoffman. Joy Cushman and Chloupek each scored 11 points, while Teeter and McManus added five apiece.
Hoffman’s numbers likely won’t jump off the box score, but her effort and intensity on defense made a crucial impact for W.F. West.
“I thought Hadley was really tough in there. She’s undersized, but she’s probably one of the grittiest kids we’ve ever had in this program,” Karnofski said. “I thought Mallory [Gaskill] did a good job. Madi McManus gave us a really good spark.”
W.F. West (19-4) now gets a chance to play in its 17th district title game in program history, and the latest trip is its fourth straight appearance. The Bearcats will look to secure their third consecutive district title against Mark Morris (17-5) on Saturday, Feb. 21 at Kelso High School.
“It’s where we want to be. It’s not where we hope to be,” Karnofski said of the district championship game. “This group has come together pretty well in the last month or two. The goal was to punch the ticket [to state], and now the goal is to win the district title. We checked off one box, and we’ve got another box to go.”
