Napavine's Hayden Kaut and Toutle Lake’s Payton Thayer ended their high school basketball careers on a high note on Sunday, as the pair led the B Team to a 107-63 blowout victory over the A Team at the 2026 Southwest Washington Girls Senior All-Star Game at Centralia College on Sunday.
Kaut finished with 20 points, 14 rebounds, five blocks, and three assists, while Thayer shot 7 for 11 from three and finished with 27 points, seven rebounds, and four assists. After the game, they were named the game’s Co-Most Valuable Players.
For both Kaut, Thayer, and the rest of the group, it was a rare opportunity to play together after battling throughout the last four seasons.
In addition to Napavine and Toutle Lake, the girls B’s team also included players from Pe Ell, Adna, and Toledo, while the A team included players from Centralia, W.F. West, Tumwater, Shelton, Hoquiam, and Elma.
“It’s super fun,” Kaut said. “All we’ve known is to be rivals with all of them and go against them, so it’s super fun to get an opportunity to have them on our team.”
Toledo’s Ryah Stanley scored the B team’s first 10 points to help the B’s build an early lead, one they continued to add to throughout the first half.
The second half was more lopsided, as the B team outscored the A team 51-26 after the break.
“It was cool just seeing all these four-year starters, pretty much, and just working all together,” B team coach Cody Young, an Adna assistant, said. “And to show that the B’s are sometimes better than the A’s,” he added with a chuckle and a smile.
Stanley finished with 16 points, as did Adna’s Rhylee Beebe, while Napavine’s Taylen Evander finished with 10 points and eight assists. Napavine’s Clara Fay added seven points and seven rebounds, and Napavine’s Sophia Bittner scored five points.
Adna’s Ava Humphrey scored two points and grabbed eight rebounds, and Pe Ell’s Madi Engel and Peyton Zock both added two points.
The B’s finished the night shooting 42.6 percent from the field, and they also made 19 three-pointers.
“When you don’t have to coach much, you just sit there and tell them to just keep shooting,” Young said with a smile. “It’s pretty cool to see.”
At one point, Young was able to get the five Napavine seniors — Kaut, Evander, Bittner, Clara Fay, and Hannah Fay — on the floor at once, and the Tigers ran their offense and their press for a brief moment.
“We’re a little out of shape for that press, but it was fun,” Kaut joked. “It was really cool to get one last time with all of us on the court.”
On the A side, Centralia coach Austin Danielson got the chance to coach Ayana Saucedo and Brooklyn Sprague again.
“It’s a blessing to coach our girls one more time,” Danielson said. “That was a really unexpected and fun privilege … It’s been a pleasure to have these girls around for four years, and we wish them the best in their lives beyond.”
Sprague missed the end of Centralia’s season with an injury, and she only was able to play eight minutes in the game, but she looked as sharp as ever from deep when she and Stanley were matching each other three-pointer for three-pointer in the halftime three-point contest.
After the final and an overtime, they were both still tied, and they were named co-winners of the event so that the second half could begin on time.
Danielson wasn’t surprised, adding that Sprague is undefeated in the three-point contests that Centralia has held in the past at tournaments.
“I had a feeling that she would win,” Danielson said. “For her to go out of high school like that, that’s appropriate for her. She deserves it, and we’re really happy for her.”
On the court, Shelton’s Cedar Wiley finished with a team-high 13 points and eight rebounds, and Hoquiam’s Sydney Gordon added 12 points and nine rebounds.
Saucedo, Tumwater’s Kam Wilson, and Tumwater’s Claire Buono scored nine points each, W.F. West’s Hadley Hoffman added five, W.F. West’s Caroline Buzzard added four, and Tumwater’s Caydence Lee scored two.
Gordon tallied seven rebounds, while Hoffman, Saucedo, and Buzzard grabbed six each.
“The other girls in the area, it was great to have them come out, compete, and encourage each other,” Danielson said. “There was a lot of positivity from everyone.”
After the game, parents and friends were invited down onto the floor to take photos with the athletes by Centralia College men’s basketball coach Joe Chirhart, who helped organize the event.
“Getting an opportunity to get this gym packed full of people really excited about this game is what I love to do,” Chirhart said. “(The kids) have grown up playing against each other in a number of sports, and so as much as this game is competitive, I just more or less enjoy them getting an opportunity to play with each other and everybody getting a chance to celebrate their one final chance.”
