Three-peat is complete. How Boise girls basketball cruised to another district title
A stat sheet often only tells part of the story. But it painted a pretty complete picture of the Boise High girls basketball team’s dominance Friday.
The Brave crushed Rocky Mountain 50-31 at Idaho Central Arena in downtown Boise, running away with their third straight 5A District Three Tournament championship and putting up gaudy numbers all over the box score.
Boise (22-1) held the Grizzlies scoreless for a 7-minute, 31-second stretch in the second half. It out rebounded Rocky Mountain 38-22. And a variety of presses forced 15 turnovers before the Brave took their foot off the gas in the fourth quarter.
“That’s the average we score against them every time we play them,” Rocky Mountain (17-6) coach BJ Humphreys said with a shrug. “The previous two times, we’ve scored 30 points per game. They have a level of toughness and energy that we’re still learning.”
Friday marked just the latest blowout for Boise, which has won 19 straight by an average of 31 points per game. The win all but clinched the Brave the top seed at next week’s state tournament. But more importantly, it also marked the impactful return of junior Kaity Haan.
An ankle injury kept the 6-foot forward out of the starting lineup until last Saturday’s district semifinal. But she controlled the paint Friday, finishing with 15 points, eight rebounds and three steals.
Rocky Mountain’s defense stepped to Boise star Avery Howell every time she put the ball on the floor. That opened room for Haan to operate in the middle, and she made the Grizzlies pay.
“Kaity killed it tonight, especially coming off an ankle injury,” Howell said. “Having her confidence back and just coming on, that was really big for us.”
Howell posted her 15th double-double of the season with 16 points and 10 rebounds. But the McDonald’s All-American finished 5-for-14 from the floor and had to find other ways to impact the game, including three steals and sinking 6-of-7 free throws.
Boise coach Kim Brydges said her contributions went beyond the box score.
“I thought her leadership tonight was amazing,” Brydges said. “And I thought she made some great adjustments at halftime, and it really complemented her game.”
Both teams clinched their state tournament berths last week. But neither team will learn their seed or matchups until the final MaxPreps.com rankings are calculated Sunday or Monday.
Boise heads to the Ford Idaho Center for the seventh straight year, the longest active streak among 5A schools. Boise hasn’t won a state title since 2005. But its winning streak makes it the team to beat, a status that’s fine with Haan.
“Every game matters. Every round is going to be hard. Everyone’s out to get us,” Haan said. “We just need to keep doing what we’ve been doing, and we’ll be good.”
Anna DaBell led Rocky Mountain with 10 points. Cianna Legaspi added eight points, and Logan Sailors finished with six points for the Grizzlies, who find themselves in a familiar position.
Rocky Mountain also lost to Boise in last year’s district championship only to rebound and mount an underdog run to the state finals.
“This game means a lot,” Humphreys said. “We want to be district champs. But in the grand scheme of things, we’ve got the state tournament. So we’ve got to bounce back, get positive on Monday and have a great practice, have a great week and be ready to go Thursday with whoever we end up playing.
“We’ll be ready.”
This story was originally published February 9, 2024 at 9:50 PM.
