Salmon River girls basketball reaches 1A Division II state championship game
Salmon River High didn’t have a girls varsity basketball team between 2011-14. Now the Savages are playing for a state title.
The Riggins school beat Genesis Prep of Post Falls 66-51 in a 1A Division II semifinal at Nampa High on Friday. Salmon River (17-5) will play Butte County (23-0), which beat Nezperce 63-24 in its semifinal game.
The championship game starts at 9:30 a.m. Saturday in Nampa, the first of six state championship games at the Ford Idaho Center.
Salmon River, the District Three champions under third-year coach Paula Tucker, have won 10 straight games.
The Savages fell behind 20-13 in the first quarter. That’s when sophomore point guard Chevelle Shepherd and senior guard Maddy Tucker took over. Shepherd finished with 29 points, Tucker had 19 and senior post Sarah Laritz added 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Salmon River finished third at last year’s state tournament. Butte County is the only undefeated team in the state, in all classifications.
2A
Ririe (24-2) and Malad (19-8) meet in the championship game at 1:40 p.m. Ririe, which has won 16 straight games, outscored its first two opponents at state by 37 total points.
1A Division I
Lapwai (22-1) takes on Prairie (21-3) for the state title at 11:30 a.m. Prairie beat Horseshoe Bend 54-37 in a Friday semifinal. Lapwai is going for its third straight title.
This story was originally published February 18, 2017 at 12:05 AM with the headline "Salmon River girls basketball reaches 1A Division II state championship game."