Saturday’s prep recap: Timberline, Boise, four more teams clinch state tournament berths
Next week’s 5A District Three girls basketball championship will go down in history, no matter who takes home the trophy.
Timberline (22-1) and Boise (18-3) both rolled to wins in Saturday’s semifinal round at Capital, punching their tickets to state, setting up a rematch for the district title and ensuring the end of one championship drought.
Timberline last won a district title in 2003 and Boise last won in 2004. The two meet at 7 p.m. Friday at Capital for a chance to end those streaks.
The game takes on a different flavor this year as it has no state tournament seeding implications. Regular-season MaxPreps rankings will determine the seedings and state tournament matchups this year. But teams must still qualify via their district tournament, which Timberline and Boise both accomplished Saturday night.
NO. 1 TIMBERLINE DOMINATES EAGLE
The 5A classification’s top defense flexed its muscles early and often Saturday, suffocating Eagle for a 46-19 win that sent Timberline to state for the fourth straight year.
The No. 1-ranked Wolves jumped out to a 16-3 lead after the first quarter, built a 15-point lead at halftime and held the Mustangs to 5-for-41 (12%) shooting from the floor to run away with the district semifinal moments after it started.
“They struggled shooting tonight, but I think we did a good job,” Timberline coach Andy Jones said. “We didn’t leave a whole lot of open shooters. Our kids played really good defense and rebounded. That’s always the goal this time of the year.”
Jones said the Wolves focused on keeping Eagle (11-12) out of the paint to stop its penetrate-and-kick strategy. And it paid off in several areas.
Saturday marked the third time this season Timberline held an opponent to less than 20 points. It limited Eagle to 28 points under its season average. And after Eagle’s Paige Cofer erupted for 35 points in the first round of the district tournament, the Wolves held her to two points Saturday.
“Getting stops energizes us,” Timberline senior post Sophie Glancey said. “We were just kind of on a high almost. It was like, ‘Scramble, scramble, scramble,’ but it was fun. Everyone was just giving it 100%.
“That’s what did it for us — just effort — more than any plan.”
Glancey carried the Wolves offensively, finishing with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Lauren McCall added 11 points, seven rebounds and three steals. And Piper Davis and Audrey Taylor each scored seven, though Taylor did it on 2-for-12 shooting.
But Glancey more than made up for her fellow Northern Arizona signee’s struggles, dominating the paint and the glass.
“She’s really strong. She’s got great, soft hands. And she’s got a good touch around the basket,” Jones said. “You really have to commit to double-team or triple-team her, and she did a good job tonight checking out of it and not forcing the issue.”
Saturday’s victory removes any worry about getting to state. Now all the Wolves have to do is turn their attention to capturing that elusive district championship.
“We’ve worked so hard to get where we are, and now we’re starting to see our hard work pay off,” Glancey said. “Next week, the key is just going to be to relax, have fun, play hard and stay focused.”
Eagle falls into the consolation bracket, where it can still clinch a spot at state with a win over Rocky Mountain (11-13) on Tuesday.
BOISE RUNS PAST BORAH
No. 5-ranked Boise avenged one of its three losses Saturday. Now it gets a chance to erase the memory of the other two, both to Timberline, in Friday’s district championship.
Boise and Borah (17-6) battled in a back-and-forth first half. But the Brave stormed out of the halftime break, outscoring the Lions 14-2 in the third quarter and 27-10 in the second half to run away with a 48-30 victory.
Boise coach Kim Brydges said the Brave made adjustments at halftime to their 2-3 zone and to become more patient on offense. The moves turned a close game into a rout and ensured Boise a spot at state for the fifth consecutive season.
Senior post Ashley Banks, a 6-5 Southern Utah signee, put Boise on her back in the first half. But the Brave used their depth to run away in the second as Avery Howell, Ava Oakland, Ella Nelson and Alison Turcke all sank key buckets in the third quarter.
“I’ve got four kids who are all averaging between eight and 11 points a game,” Brydges said. “And that makes us, I think, very dangerous and very difficult to stop, especially when we’re running on multiple cylinders, which were tonight.”
Banks led three Boise scorers in double figures with 12 points. Nelson added 11 points and five assists, Oakland had 10 points, and Howell finished with seven points and 14 rebounds.
“We’re a team that’s really good at being unselfish,” Banks said. “... Not just having one person score is a really big strength of ours.”
The win sets up another rematch with Timberline, which topped Boise by nine and 10 points earlier this season. But those losses would become a distant memory with a district title.
“We’re all so motivated,” Banks said. “We know we can beat them, so we just have to go out and know we can beat them and have that confidence.”
Borah drops into the losers’ bracket of the district tournament. It faces Owyhee (13-11) on Tuesday with the winner advancing to state.
3A: PARMA, FRUITLAND LOCK UP STATE BERTHS
Parma 51, Weiser 25: Rylie Calkins poured in 30 points while sinking 7-of-13 3-pointers to lead the Panthers (13-9) back to state for the sixth straight year with a runaway victory in the 3A District Three semifinals. Austyn Harris added six points and seven rounds as Parma avenged its only loss of 2022.
Fruitland 49, McCall-Donnelly 39: No details were reported. The Grizzlies (16-5) host five-time district champ Parma for the 3A District Three title at 7 p.m. Thursday.
2A: COLE VALLEY, MELBA HEADED TO STATE
- Cole Valley Christian 51, Ambrose 18: The No. 1-ranked Chargers (18-4) steamrolled the Archers in a 2A District Three semifinal to advance to state for the ninth straight year. Hadley Fraas (17 points), Julee Caven (12) and Lyndsie Krogh (10) all finished in double figures.
- Melba 59, New Plymouth 47: Keylee Wilson scored 16 points, and Brooklyn Dayley added 12 points, four assists and five steals as the Mustangs (18-3) took care of business in their 2A semifinal. Melba travels to Cole Valley Christian for the district championship at 7 p.m. Thursday. This is the sixth straight year the two have met in the finals with Cole Valley winning the past two.
GIRLS BASKETBALL SCOREBOARD
BOYS BASKETBALL SCOREBOARD
This story was originally published February 5, 2022 at 11:46 PM.
