Two state berths were up for grabs. A clutch outburst earned one. An early frenzy got the other
The rematch is on.
Boise and Rocky Mountain punched their tickets to the 5A girls basketball state tournament with victories Saturday. But their wins also set up Round 2 for one of the season’s biggest upsets.
Rocky Mountain (16-7) snapped Boise’s 17-game winning streak Jan. 21. But the Brave (20-2) get a shot at redemption at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the 5A District Three Tournament championship game at ICCU Arena.
This marks the first year the Treasure Valley’s 5A and 4A district tournaments will crown their champions with a doubleheader at the Downtown Boise arena. The boys basketball tournaments will do the same on Feb. 23, providing a big-time experience for the players, coaches and fans.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” Boise junior Avery Howell said. “I think it’s going to be a super fun and new experience, and our team is really excited for it.”
BOISE WILL DEFEND DISTRICT TITLE
Howell carried Boise into that new experience Saturday, scoring 14 points in the final 3 minutes in a 54-47 win over Timberline in the 5A District Three Tournament semifinals.
Timberline, the defending state champ, rallied and took a 42-40 lead when Lauren McCall drained a corner 3-pointer with 4:17 left in the fourth quarter. But Howell was just getting started.
She drew a foul on a 3-pointer and calmly sank all three shots to retake the lead. She then capitalized off a turnover for a fastbreak layup, and added a spinning 5-foot jumper before finishing 5-for-6 at the free throw line to send Boise to state for the sixth straight year.
The 6-foot junior scored all of Boise’s points in the final 3 minutes, finishing the night with 22 points, 14 rebounds and five steals for her 14th double-double of the season.
“That’s the big difference for Avery this year,” Boise coach Kim Brydges said. “Yeah, she wasn’t getting a lot of opportunities (early). And, of course, Timberline is trying to shut her down. But we’re not a one-dimensional team, and she was playing very patiently.
“She did a great job down the stretch and stepped up when we needed her the most.”
Timberline flustered Boise early, creating 17 turnovers as it forced the ball out of Howell’s hands. But Boise made up for it with a deadly night behind the 3-point line, sinking six of its first eight 3-pointers.
Avery Patricco scored 15 points on 2-for-5 shooting behind the arc, and Sophia Clark added 9 points while sinking 3-of-4.
“It’s just one more (pass). It’s not taking any selfish shots,” Howell said. “We were really just looking for each other, and it didn’t matter who was shooting. We have confidence in every player on the team and on the floor.”
McCall scored 11 points and had five assists, and Piper Davis finished with 10 for Timberline (19-5). The Wolves fall into the losers’ bracket, where they host Mountain View (12-12) at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in a winner-to-state game.
ROCKY IN FIRST DISTRICT FINAL
Sluggish starts often doomed the Grizzlies this season. But they had no such trouble Saturday.
Rocky Mountain raced out to a 20-point lead in the second quarter before hanging on for 62-46 win over Owyhee. The victory sends the Grizzlies to the first district championship game in the program’s 15-year history.
“At the beginning of the season, we’d struggle starting quickly and getting things going,” Rocky Mountain coach BJ Humphreys said. “We’d always seem to have a bad first quarter. So it’s just been a focus for us to come out aggressively.
“One of the ways we do that is with our press. And we changed a little bit of the pregame talk to try to fire it up before the game instead of at halftime, when I’m irritated with them.”
Rocky Mountain’s Brielle Magnuson had the game’s first two baskets and never slowed down. The 5-10 senior scored a game-high 22 points on 9-for-11 shooting while adding eight rebounds.
The game nearly turned into a blowout before halftime. But Owyhee (18-4) continued to hang around, and it cut the lead to 10 when Emma Atchley stole the ball, broke down the court for a layup and drew a foul. Her free throw capped an 11-0 run with 3:27 left.
The Storm could never get any closer, though, as Rocky Mountain continually found a way to answer any Owyhee run.
“At the beginning of the season, toughness was a hard thing for us,” Magnuson said. “Through each game, we’ve gotten better and better with it. And we really showed that tonight.”
Zoe Archibald added 15 points and four steals, and Anna Dabell chipped in eight points for Rocky Mountain, which has won eight of its past nine games.
Josie Davis and Mikale Roy each scored 11 points for Owyhee. The Storm face Eagle (13-11) at 6 p.m. Tuesday in a winner-to-state game at Timberline.
SATURDAY’S STANDOUTS
- Demi Thompson, Mountain View (girls basketball): Drained a buzzer-beating half-court shot to lead the Mavericks to a 29-27 win vs. Kuna in a 5A District Three Tournament elimination game. Thompson scored 19 points and added five rebounds, three steals and two blocks. She was 0-for-7 behind the 3-point line before her winning basket.
- Paige Cofer, Eagle (girls basketball): Scored 19 points in a 56-42 win over Middleton in a 5A District Three Tournament elimination game.
- Sidney Jackson, Parma (girls basketball): Sent the Panthers to state for the seventh year in a row with 23 points, four rebounds and three steals in a 54-26 win over McCall-Donnelly in the 3A District Three Tournament semifinals.
- Jackson Rasmussen, Owyhee (boys basketball): Led the Storm with 11 points and a block in a 58-33 victory over Timberline.
This story was originally published February 4, 2023 at 11:33 PM.
