Bishop Kelly shut down opponents all season. Then it faced the 4A’s best offense
Holding opponents to an average of 30 points per game this season, no 4A high school girls basketball team has been better defensively than Bishop Kelly.
But the Knights couldn’t contain the classification’s offensive juggernaut in Shelley, which used a 21-9 fourth-quarter run to defeat the Knights 60-48 in the 4A girls basketball state tournament semifinals Friday at the Ford Idaho Center.
The No. 1 Russets (22-3) advance to Saturday’s 4A state title game, where they’ll face No. 3 Sandpoint (19-5) at 6 p.m. at the Ford Idaho Center.
“We’ve been a solid second-half team, and we’ve gotten into a lot of locker rooms tied or close and then pulled out in the second half,” Shelley coach Jessica Carlson said. “So I felt pretty confident when we went in at half that we’d be just fine.”
Shelley, which leads the 4A classification at 63 points per game, needed scores from Brinley Cannon and Hallie Behunin to break a 20-20 tie inside the final two minutes of the first half. The Russets were held to just 24 points on 8-of-25 (32%) shooting, hanging onto a 24-20 lead at the break.
That begged the question of just how battle-tested the Russets really were. They were making their first state tournament appearance since 2016 as a 3A member, and they had to win a play-in game just to qualify for state.
Combine that with a four-point deficit midway through the third quarter, and Shelley looked to be in trouble against the Knights.
But coach Carlson was far from worried.
“We try to not get in our heads too much,” Carlson said. “We try to show up and really stay grounded and not focus too much on who we’re playing.”
The Russets and Knights were tied at 39 heading into the fourth quarter, but Shelley quickly proved why it’s the 4A’s best offense. Cannon knocked down a triple to put Shelley up by three, and a steal on the defensive end helped the junior guard score an and-1 to extend the lead to 45-39.
Cannon finished with 25 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks.
“Brinley is always solid for us,” Carlson said. “She’s essential to our team, but what makes our team great is that we have other players who can also step in.”
Bishop Kelly junior Keira Lizama scored five points to cut into the 50-39 deficit, but Shelley responded with a pair of Behunin scores to keep the Russets up double digits.
Behunin had seven points for the Russets, and Mia Williams added 11 points.
“I’m just proud of our girls,” Bishop Kelly coach Derek McCormick said. “They played hard and they battled. I thought we had a good shot to win the game, especially when it was 39-39 at the end of the third quarter. But we made a couple of mistakes and (Shelley) took advantage of it.”
Lizama led the Knights with 10 points, while Caroline Knothe had eight points and 10 rebounds. They’ll play No. 7 Columbia (15-11) at Timberline in the third-place game at noon Saturday.
This story was originally published February 17, 2023 at 10:53 PM.
