After getting its ‘defense going,’ Bishop Kelly smothers Columbia for 4A district title
Bishop Kelly missed its first six shots in the District Three Tournament championship game Thursday night.
The Knights, Idaho’s top-ranked 4A girls basketball team, fell behind 12-4 to Columbia and trailed 14-8 after one quarter at Idaho Central Arena in downtown Boise.
Then they turned to their defense to turn things around.
Bishop Kelly forced 26 turnovers, blanked the Wildcats in the second quarter and held them to 33.3% shooting to score a 46-28 victory and capture the school’s first district title since 2018 while locking up a spot in next week’s state tournament.
“We’ve got some tough kids,” Knights coach Derek McCormick said. “They’re resilient and they play hard. Today, we got down big in the beginning. It could’ve gone south, but the girls just played hard, got right back into it and extended the lead.”
Columbia (13-10) made an early push for the first district title in program history, with Jada Myers and Ellie Robertson scoring 12 of the team’s 14 first-quarter points. Bishop Kelly scored the game’s next 11 points and dominated the rest of the way.
“When we came out, I felt like we were just all nervous and knew that it was a big stage, so we came out with those nerves and were a little hesitant,” BK senior Caroline Knothe said. “But once we settled in and realized that this was our game, things started to come together.”
A pair of baskets from Knothe tied the score at 14-14, and an Addie Hiler steal led to a Knothe 3-pointer and 19-14 lead at halftime.
Columbia had 17 turnovers in the first half. Senior Mylie Mills, last year’s 4A Southern Idaho Conference player of the year, was held scoreless and got off only two shots.
Mills got Columbia as close as 27-21 with two baskets midway through the third quarter, but the Knights turned up their defense again. They held a 20-2 advantage in points off turnovers and got 19 steals in the game.
The strong performance helped offset Bishop Kelly’s offense: 19-for-62 (30.6%) from the field.
“I think we realized that our shots weren’t falling early, so we decided to get our defense going because that could help with our offense,” Hiler said.
Knothe finished with 16 points, six rebounds and two blocks. Hiler added eight points, 11 rebounds and four steals.
“They took advantage of their opportunity and that’s what I’m most proud of,” McCormick said. “We were able to get steals and they converted them into points, and I think that kind of demoralized Columbia a little bit. You could tell that the air kind of came out of the balloon for them once we picked up the defensive pressure.”
Mills, Myers and Robertson had seven points apiece for Columbia, which will face Skyview (14-10) on Saturday at 7:30 p.m., with the winner getting the 4A SIC’s second spot in the state tournament.
THURSDAY’S STANDOUTS
- AJ LaBeau, Timberline (boys basketball): The senior had 16 points, 10 rebounds and a block in his final home game, a 49-38 win over Borah.
- Landon White, Eagle (boys basketball): Led the Mustangs with 24 points, nine rebounds and two blocks in a 83-68 victory over Nampa.
- Logan Haustveit, Mountain View (boys basketball): Helped the Mavericks secure the 5A SIC regular-season title with 12 points, five rebounds and four steals in a 63-41 win over Kuna.
- Brooke Hardy, Fruitland (girls basketball): Scored 14 points in the Grizzlies’ 54-42 victory over McCall-Donnelly in the 3A District Three Tournament third-place game.
This story was originally published February 10, 2023 at 12:06 AM.
