Current conditions unavailable
To be a player on the Napavine High School girls basketball team, there is a level of dedication that needs to be ushered in.
Summer vacations? For the most part, not a regular occurrence.
Tournaments nearly every weekend? That’s on the near regular.
Wake up at 8 a.m., lift weights, practice and repeat the process? You betcha.
In order to reach the pinnacle of Class 2B, which the Tigers did two years ago, certain sacrifices are on the table. To them, they don’t see any other way to go about their business.
“We do it so we can win district and state championships,” senior Hayden Kaut said.
The fruits of the labor through the summer months paid off in December and January. And it’s continued into February.
Behind a double-double from Kaut and enough offensive rebounds to keep chances alive, Napavine ran through the District 4 bracket for the third time in four years with a 55-43 triumph over Toutle Lake on Saturday night at W.F. West High School.
Not since Wahkiakum won three straight from 2020-22 has a C2BL team won three district titles in a four-year stretch. The Tigers won three consecutive titles from 1998-2000.
“It is not easy,” Napavine head coach Shane Schutz said. “It is a huge accomplishment. No one understands the offseason, the weight training, the summer basketball. We put in a ton of time and we enjoy each other’s company in the process.
“It is something that they earned.”
The one green year was 2025, where the confetti from the state title still lingered, but there were plenty of questions. Kaut and Taylen Evander were established. Players like Nicholle Valentine, Ava Ondong, the Fay sisters Clara and Hannah, plus the one senior in Jessie McCoy.
Through the trials and tribulations, Napavine still finished third in districts and rode the momentum to a semifinal appearance and a third place finish in Spokane.
Schutz even admitted there was a fine line. Still, the Tigers tight-roped it effortlessly.
“You’re still talented enough, but you’re young in certain areas,” he said. “I think I can speak for everybody, it was a hard year, but we got a lot out of it. The cool thing I recognized from last year, we got third and everybody in the locker room was like ‘OK this is great, but we tasted what the best feels like.’
“We’re on our mission.”
Those feelings leaving the court enhanced the summer schedule. Kaut and Evander played select ball at times, so everyone else had to figure out how to be primary scorers when the 2026 C2BL Co-MVPs were absent.
Big picture perspective, it worked.
Valentine and Ondong had moments this season where they were the second-leading scorer. Clara and Hannah Fay developed confidence from downtown. Then there is Sophia Bittner, previously at Ilwaco, who provided a spark off the bench.
“Not a lot of teams in our district work well altogether because they don’t play enough together,” Evander said. “That helps us a lot.”
It was Evander’s bucket with 5 minutes, 26 seconds to go in the second quarter back in front 17-16, part of a 9-0 run that erased a three-point deficit. Ondong netted two straight layups to give Napavine a six-point halftime cushion.
Kaut, the Montana recruit, scored the opening six in the third to give the Tigers their largest lead of the night at 12.
“The first five minutes of the third quarter are most important,” Kaut said.
“She just wills it,” Schutz added. “She started to be the best player on the floor.”
Toutle Lake has proved to be lethal, despite relying on its three stars Kendal and Lainey Dean plus Payton Thayer. That trio picked the wrong night to go cold, combining for just 12 field goals on 49 attempts.
Evander was the primary defender on Lainey Dean, who still tied for the team-lead in points with Thayer at 13, but they were far from an easy 13.
“My goal was to not let her shoot 3s, let’s make her drive,” Evander said.
Yet the Ducks never waddled away, getting as close as six in the fourth. Kaut answered with a triple to bring the margin back to nine and she made four free throws down the stretch. She finished with a 20-point, 15-rebound double-double.
Valentine finished with 13 and five boards while Ondong and Evander each chipped in seven points. Kaut and Evander tied for the team lead with five dimes. The Tigers finished with 15 offensive rebounds.
Napavine jumped out to an 8-2 lead and allowed the Ducks to tie the game. It shot poorly from deep, 2-of-13 in the opening frame, but Schutz was not upset.
“They were just parked in the key, so the shooters got to shoot,” he said. “Let’s shoot it, that is like a pass, if we rebound well. I wish we took more of them.”
With a regular season title and a district first place finish in their back pocket, the Tigers believe they are firmly in the conversation for the No. 1 seed in the 2B state tournament. Wins against 1A power Lynden Christian, 3A Snohomish and an OT loss to 2A W.F. West is only the start.
They scheduled difficult games for moments like Saturday. Now, Napavine is hopeful it will get rewarded.
“We definitely deserve to be top-three,” Kaut stated.
