Joy Cushman wasn’t supposed to play basketball in her junior season, let alone ever again.
As a matter of fact, she was told by her doctors that it would be impossible for her to ever walk again without pain after partially tearing and then re-injuring her Achilles, severe injuries that caused her to miss all of last season.
More than a year later, Cushman isn’t just walking without pain. She’s flying.
The W.F. West Bearcats junior guard fueled her team to a District 4 2A Tournament quarterfinal victory over Ridgefield 65-34 at home Friday night with a game-high 22 points.
Cushman is locked into the moment and playing fearlessly, with the Bearcats now one win away from their ninth straight state tournament berth. But after the game, she took a moment to reflect on her whirlwind last couple of years, one that few athletes — regardless of athletic level — could overcome.
“All the glory goes to God,” Cushman said. “I wasn’t planning on playing ever again. I didn’t pick up a ball for like eight months because I thought I was done. It wasn’t supposed to happen, but I’m here. I’m really grateful. I’m pain-free, which is just a miracle.”
W.F. West came into the game against Ridgefield knowing that the Spudders would give the Bearcats their best shot. After all, this was the fourth straight year that the two teams have met in the district tournament, with W.F. West winning the previous three by at least 19 points. But in a regular season matchup on Dec. 22, 2025, the Spudders were within three at halftime against the Bearcats in Chehalis before W.F. West pulled away to win by 34.
“Coach [Kyle] Karnofski instilled us with the mindset that we don’t know what’s going to happen. They could beat us if we don’t bring it,” Cushman said.
The Bearcats brought it early and often, with Dilyn Boeck, fresh off her EvCo MVP honor this week, and Cushman drilling 3-pointers in the first two and a half minutes. W.F. West’s defense shackled the Ridgefield offense for the entirety of the first quarter, restricting the Spudders to five points while forcing six turnovers en route to an 18-5 opening stanza, led by Cushman’s nine points.
Ridgefield drifted around early in the second quarter after W.F. West opened up a 25-9 advantage, subsequently limiting the Bearcats without a field goal for over three minutes. Following a Karnofski timeout up 26-14 with under four minutes to go until the halftime break, W.F. West sprinted to the locker room with a 12-2 run, culminating with a Kaitlyn Chloupek layup just before the horn to push the margin to 22.
The W.F. West offense cooled off in the third quarter, only scoring one field goal in the final four minutes of the period, but the Bearcats still maintained a comfortable 21-point lead heading into the fourth.
Cushman turned up the heat to start the fourth, scoring an easy layup off a Ridgefield turnover and knocking down her third trifecta of the night to bring her total to 22 points and help the Bearcats cruise to a 16-6 fourth quarter.
“Joy can score in a lot of different ways. When she gets out in transition and you’ve got guards that will kick it out ahead to her like that, it’s an added bonus and a blessing that we’re able to have that,” Karnofski said.
Boeck added 19 points and kickstarted a handful of transition possessions by jumping in the passing lane and deflecting errant passes or pickpocketing Spudders ball-handlers.
“I think that’s a super awesome award for her, and it’s well deserved. Talk about a kid that puts in a ton of work,” Karnofski said of Boeck’s MVP award, which marked the fourth straight winter that a Bearcat girl earned EvCo MVP. “That girl lives basketball, and she’s pretty dang good at it.”
“I’m so proud of her. She puts in so much work. It’s insane. She’s always in the gym,” Cushman added.
Chloupek contributed 10 points, while the Bearcats got valuable minutes from sophomore Izzy Teeter and freshman Mallory Gaskill, who each tallied six, off the bench.
W.F. West (18-4) has now won 13 games in a row and will look to stretch its winning streak, along with its state tournament streak, with a win against No. 2 seed Woodland, which triumphed over No. 3 seed Tumwater 58-47 Friday.
The Bearcats will travel to Woodland Monday, Feb. 16 in the district semifinals. W.F. West beat the Beavers 56-34 in Woodland in the season-opener on Dec. 1, 2025, and also crushed them 67-25 in the district semis last February.
“We’re going to their place, so they’re going to be comfortable on their home court,” Karnofski said of the Woodland matchup. “They’re going to show up. They’re super well-coached. We’ve just got to show up, keep doing what we’re doing, share the ball, play tough defense, and play Bearcat basketball.”
