Late rally sends Timberline to 5A state finals, earns the Wolves a shot at revenge
Friday looked like one of those unlucky nights, one where all the stars aligned against the Timberline girls basketball team.
But just as the Wolves’ state championship dreams appeared over, Timberline mounted a fourth-quarter rally to blow past Rigby for a 56-49 victory in the 5A state semifinals.
The win clinched Timberline (24-2) a spot in the finals for the second time in three years. The Wolves will face conference rival Boise (21-3) at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Ford Idaho Center.
That gives the Wolves a chance at redemption after they squandered a late lead against Boise in the district championship last week. And no one is looking forward to it more than senior guard Audrey Taylor, whose inbound pass was stolen in the final minute and created a three-point play that forced overtime in that game.
“I definitely have a fire in me,” Taylor said. “I’m just really excited to play them again. It’s kind of silly that we’ve (already) played three times. But honestly, I’m more excited.
“I’m angry. I want to win again.”
Taylor’s anger fueled Timberline’s comeback Friday. The Wolves trailed by as many as eight points late in the third quarter and trailed by five early in the fourth before Taylor took over.
She drained a 25-foot 3-pointer in front of her team’s bench with 5:26 left, leading to gasps throughout the Idaho Center. But the Northern Arizona signee didn’t turn around to celebrate with her teammates. She smelled blood and pounced on the inbound pass, coming away with a steal.
A timeout gave Timberline time to draw up a play, and Sophie Glancey sank the tying bucket to shift momentum.
Rigby retook a brief lead at 48-46, but Taylor, the smallest player on the court at 5-foot-7, swatted a shot in the paint, starting a fast break that Aly Cox finished with a layup to tie the score at 48-all with 2:51 left.
“She’s been waiting for her turn to have a big play,” Timberline coach Andy Jones said of Taylor. “She just persevered and was determined. She made a huge play for us, and then made another one on top of it. So it was a big, big turning point in the game.”
Cox gave Timberline the lead for good when she finished a series of tic-tac-toe passes from Kailey Huegerich and Glancey with an open layup at the 2:04 mark. Cox scored six of her 12 points in the fourth quarter.
Timberline then iced the game at the free-throw line for the second straight night. Lauren McCall and Taylor combined to sink 8-of-8 shots in the final minute.
Glancey led Timberline with 16 points and eight rebounds, and Taylor added 14 points. Rigby was led by Hadley Good (19 points, four steals) and Kambree Barber (18 points, eight rebounds).
Saturday’s championship provides Timberline a shot at redemption in more ways than one. Taylor, Glancey, McCall and Huegerich all played key roles on Timberline’s 2020 team, which fell to Mountain View in the state championship game.
The Wolves can erase those memories by bringing home the program’s first title since 2003.
“All five of our starters played in the championship before, and we know how we felt after losing the last one,” Taylor said. “So we just have a lot of fire in us right now.”
This story was originally published February 18, 2022 at 10:43 PM.
