Twice as nice. Bishop Kelly girls repeat as district champions with win over Columbia
Derek McCormick was caught off guard when his Bishop Kelly girls basketball players doused him with water in the locker room. But there was nothing surprising to the veteran coach about the way his Knights played.
Bishop Kelly used the classification’s top-ranked defense to smother Columbia 57-32 in the 4A District Three Tournament championship game Friday night at Idaho Central Arena. It is the Knights’ second straight district title and comes with a state tournament berth.
“I don’t know, it’s like Super Bowl week, right? Defense travels,” said McCormick, who is in his 16th season coaching BK. “That’s our game, man. We play defense, and hopefully we’ll make a few shots.”
The Knights (18-4) held the Wildcats (12-12) to just 20.6 percent shooting from the floor, allowing only seven field goals the entire game. Bishop Kelly started the game on an 11-0 run, and Columbia didn’t score its first field goal until there was under a minute left in the opening quarter. BK also forced 20 Columbia turnovers.
“Our team is so aggressive, and it’s just so fun going out there knowing that I can rely on the next person to help me out if my girl gets past me and they can do the same for me, too,” Bishop Kelly senior Jordyn Carnell said. “It’s just such a good dynamic that we have throughout the whole team.”
Bishop Kelly’s aggressive style led to some early foul trouble for starters Keira Lizama and Brooke Hutchinson — who had three fouls apiece by halftime — but the Knights’ depth carried them through. All 11 varsity members saw playing time, with nine contributing two points or more.
“There’s only been one or two games where we haven’t played all 11 kids,” McCormick said. “I think that helps in times like this when you need somebody to step up because of foul trouble. Then they’re not so wide-eyed. They’re ready to go.”
The Knights turned to 6-foot-2 senior center Addy Laible to set the tone early. She scored the game’s first six points, spearheading a wire-to-wire lead that grew to as many as 28 points. Laible finished with 12 points, eight rebounds, one steal and one assist, while Carnell led all scorers with 15 points.
BK has now qualified for state three consecutive seasons and is looking to build on last year’s third-place finish. Tournament play starts Thursday at Timberline High, but seeds and matchups won’t be released until MaxPreps.com rankings are calculated Sunday or Monday.
“We’ve got a lot of seniors, and we want to enjoy the moment and have fun,” McCormick said. “Hopefully that will carry over to some wins and we can finish our season the right way.”
Columbia is chasing its third state tournament appearance in program history, and it’ll have to get past Ridgevue to get there. Ridgevue (15-8) defeated Emmett in a loser-out contest Friday. The Wildcats and Warhawks play for the league’s remaining state berth at 2 p.m. Saturday at Vallivue High.
This story was originally published February 10, 2024 at 12:01 AM.
