Thursday’s prep recap: Middleton’s newest coach leads Vikings to another district title
A midseason coaching change threatened to derail the Middleton girls basketball team. Instead, the perennial powerhouse found itself back atop the Treasure Valley on Thursday.
No. 4-ranked Middleton used an impressive second-half effort to defeat Bishop Kelly 50-46 on Thursday, repeating as 4A District Three Tournament champs at Ridgevue and bringing home the title for the third time in four years.
“It comes down to practice and getting down and dirty in the gritty stuff, boxing out and being in the right defensive position,” Middleton coach Mackenzie Radford said. “At the end of the day, that’s what wins games.”
Middleton head coach Trent Harrison stepped away from the Vikings on Jan. 13 for a leave of absence. Since then, Radford — the program’s fourth coach in the past four seasons — has orchestrated a late-season run. She’s 9-0 as the interim coach and the Vikings have won 13 in a row.
“I think she’s really focused on the fundamentals and coming together as a team,” Middleton senior forward Casidy Fried said. “She’s really stepped up and done a good job.”
Despite nine turnovers in the first half, Bishop Kelly (18-6) found a late shooting spree from junior forward Addie Hiler and sophomore guard Jordyn Carnell to take a slight 21-20 lead at the break. But Middleton is no stranger to big games. As the defending district and regular-season champions, Radford knew she had the team to defend its conference supremacy.
Solo drives from Fried and senior guard Payton Hymas put the Vikings up 27-21 two minutes into the second half. With a suffocating defense, the Vikings forced multiple takeaways to extend the lead to as much as 10 early in the fourth quarter.
“(Defense) is something we work on everyday,” Fried said. “Defense fuels the offense, so if you have a good defense, then you’ll perform well.”
A late Bishop Kelly run brought the Knights within three with less than 40 seconds left. But free throws from Middleton seniors Reesa Whitworth and Sheridan Mortensen kept the Knights out of reach.
Whitworth led the Vikings with 12 points, with Fried adding 11. Bishop Kelly’s Hiler led all players with 19 points.
Both teams already clinched berths for next week’s state tournament at Mountain View before Thursday. Middleton now turns its attention toward a run there after going two-and-out each of the past two seasons.
“We can keep the momentum going by knowing what we’re capable of and just keeping that grind going in practice,” Fried said. “We know that we’ll have bigger competition coming up.”
COLUMBIA STAYS ALIVE: A strong defensive performance helped Columbia defeat Vallivue 51-24 in the tournament’s third-place game. The win sends Columbia (17-8) to the state play-in game against Skyline (12-13) at 1 p.m. Saturday in Burley. The winner earns the final spot in the 4A state tournament.
THURSDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
FRUITLAND GIRLS END PARMA’S REIGN: Abbi Roubidoux scored a game-high 20 points to lead the Grizzlies to a 45-41 win over Parma in the 3A District Three Tournament championship. It’s the first district championship for Fruitland (17-5) since 2015 and snapped Parma’s (13-10) run of five straight titles. Both teams will play in next week’s state tournament.
MELBA GIRLS CROWNED IN 2A: The Mustangs (19-3) avenged two regular-season losses to No. 1-ranked Cole Valley Christian (18-5) with a 46-34 win in the 2A District Three Tournament championship game. No details were reported.
5A BOYS DISTRICT TOURNAMENT FIELD SET: Eagle clinched the 5A SIC regular-season title after Donovan Jones racked up 23 points, 14 rebounds, four assists and four steals in a 67-36 blowout at Rocky Mountain.
Owyhee finished second, Meridian third and Centennial fourth to clinch byes into the district tournament. The play-in round tips off Saturday.