YAKIMA – The King’s girls basketball team is on an island.

With no conference affiliation, last year’s Class 1A runner-up played an independent schedule this winter, helping some of the westside’s better programs fill out their nonleague openings.

Scheduling headaches aside, it couldn’t have gone much better for the Knights, who enter this week’s Class 1A state tournament in the Yakima Valley SunDome as the top seed and favorite.

King’s played against teams in every classification from 1A to 4A, and finished with a 21-4 mark. They were able to pick and choose opponents, and didn’t have games against struggling teams mired at the bottom of the standings.

While it meant having to break down more film in one season than ever before, he’s certain that his team is ready for the competition this week in the SunDome.

“I’m getting to coach against teams I never get to coach against, and the players are getting to play against players they never get to play against,” King’s coach Dan Taylor said.

It also helps when you have one of the top players in the state.

Kaleo Anderson, the tournament MVP last year, again leads the Knights, who were the runners-up in last year’s tournament. She’s averaging more than 22 points, and Taylor said she’s done a great job getting everybody involved.

King’s will meet the winner of Wednesday’s play-in between No. 7 Seton Catholic and 10th-seeded Cascade Christian.

Other than No. 5 Royal beating fourth-seeded Annie Wright, the top seeds advanced.

The Knights, second-seeded Zillah and No. 11 Wapato give the SCAC a quarter of the 12 teams still standing,

Coach Joel Yellow Owl’s Leopards were unbeaten in conference play, and their only losses were to 4A top-seed Davis, and CWAC champion Prosser, the No. 3 in the 2A tournament.

“I think they definitely have the advantage in that way,” Yellow Owl said of the Knights’ independent schedule. “At the same time, the challenge for us is to find ways to get better with the schedule we have.”

Zillah (23-2), fourth a season ago, is looking for its first trip to the state final appearance in program history.

The Leopards boys squad is the lone unbeaten (24-0) in the 1A fields. Zillah coach Mario Mengarelli is going for his fourth state championship in his 10th, but says his team still has plenty of work to do.

“We’re going to have to play 32 minutes,” Mengarelli said. “I’m very fortunate to have a talented group, and they know they can get away with it, but at some point they’re going to have to play a complete game.”

Perennial power Lynden Christian is seeded second led by the junior backcourt of Dawson Hintz and Gunnar Dykstra.

The Lyncs (23-1) haven’t lost since the second game of the season, and all but four of their victories have been by less than 10 points.

Third-seeded Royal were tripped up by No. 6 King's on Saturday, and first-year coach Tim Ravet's crew will try to bounce back at 9 Wednesday morning against Overlake.