University girls season ends against No. 2 prospect in country; Central Valley boys advance on buzzer beater | State basketball

Oliviyah Edward of Lincoln (Tacoma), the No. 2 player in the 2026 SportsCenter NEXT 100 class, committed to University of Tennessee in the fall to continue her academic and athletic pursuits.

And the 6-foot-4 forward wasn’t about to let a bloody nose on Tuesday end her high school career.

Edward missed almost four minutes of game time between the third and fourth quarters on Tuesday dealing with the mess and returned with her team trailing by 11. But the Abes closed the game on a 16-2 run to keep their season alive – and end their hosts’, the University Titans.

Edward finished with 26 points – 11 in the fourth quarter after returning from the injury, Aanjili Sanehi added 21 and the visiting 19th-seeded Abes (11-11) eliminated the 14th-seeded Titans (15-9) 57-54 in a State 3A play-in game.

Lincoln faces 11th-seeded Lakeside-Seattle (17-10) in a regional loser-out game at Bellevue College on Saturday at 6 p.m.

McKenzie Handran led U-Hi with 16 points, sister Keely Handran added 12.

“When you play somebody like that, she’s gonna get some,” University coach Angel Rivera said. “We just gotta try to make the others have to do something. And tonight, (Edward) went to work. And I thought our girls, for the game plan we had coming in, I thought they played their butts off. You don’t see very many of that type of player.”

“I went back in the (locker) … I was emotional,” Edward said of coming out of the game late in the third. “I was like, ‘This isn’t about to end.’ I told myself, I said, ‘I gotta get this nose to stop, and I gotta come out here and do what I’ve got to do.’ ”

Edward was hit in the face and left the game, bleeding, with 1 minute, 40 seconds left in the third quarter in a close game.

U-Hi post Kenna Ashton (nine points) immediately drove to the hoop for a layup, guard Chloe Ahumada added a pair of free throws and McKenzie Handran scored on a layup. U-Hi went on a 10-4 run to end the third and led 44-41 entering the fourth.

U-Hi scored the first eight points of the fourth, and Edward eventually returned with 6:10 left in the game.

Her first thought seeing her team down by 11?

“I said, ‘Okay, not too much. That’s just five buckets.’ ”

Edward immediately hit a turnaround, then caused a turnover on defense. She drove for a bucket and then hit 1 of 2 at the line to make it a one-point game with three minutes left.

U-Hi led by one with 1:20 to go but turned it over. Edward scored on a put-back and made the free throw with 40 seconds to go. Edward blocked McKenzie Handran’s jumper and Lincoln took the ball with 22.7 seconds left. Edward was then fouled in the backcourt and made 1 of 2 for a three-point lead.

U-Hi called timeout in the frontcourt with 15.6 seconds left. U-Hi missed its two last shots and the Abes advanced.

“We were tough on defense,” Edward said of the comeback. “My team was great. Everybody locked in, and we did it. I couldn’t do it without them.”

“(Edward) scored her tough ones,” Rivera said. “We tried to bring as much pressure as we could, and then we – (Edward) just made shots down the stretch.”

U-Hi got out of the gate quickly, with McKenzie Handran and Lilly Heaton hitting 3-pointers as the Titans ran up a 13-4 lead midway through the first. But Lincoln responded with 3s from Edward and point guard Gianna DeLeon and U-Hi led 13-12 after one.

Ahumada and Keely Handran hit 3s early in the second for the Titans, but Edward made a pair at the line and a twisting layup to keep Lincoln close. Edward drove for a layup late and it was tied at 25 at the half.

U-Hi lost the District 6 title game on Friday. Regardless of seeding, the 3A bracket playing Tuesday elimination games is a tough draw against unfamiliar opponents.

“Half of that you got to spend, ‘Where are we playing? What time we playing?’ All that stuff,” Rivera said. “We’re not going to make excuses. (Lincoln) is a that’s a tough team. It just sucks to lose like that.”

Boys

Central Valley 52, Lakes 51: Cameron Walls banked home the go-ahead bucket as time expired and the 13th-seeded Bears (18-7) edged the visiting 20th-seeded Lancers (15-9) in a State 3A loser-out play-in game.

CV advanced to a regional loser-out against 12th-seeded Liberty (Renton) on Saturday at noon at Issaquah High School.

CV had the ball under its basket with 2 seconds left in the game down by one. Jace Nordhagen chucked it to the opposite free throw line where it defected off a defensive player to Walls, who quickly got the shot off and banked it in for the win.

Monroe 53, University 39: Caleb Campbell and Dominic Castillo scored 14 points apiece and the visiting Bearcats (20-4) eliminated the Titans (14-10) in a State 3A play-in game.

Sam Delegard led U-Hi with 14 points and Brady Bell had 12.

U-Hi scored the first six points of the fourth quarter, on 3s by Delegard and Bell, to draw within three. But Monroe got three quick buckets and a free throw to restore a nine-point lead, and the Titans never recovered.