A 42-point outburst, another upset sends two 6A girls basketball teams to state
The 6A SIC girls basketball tournament kicked off a new year with a new favorite and new faces all over the court. But it will end with the same two teams.
Eagle (21-2) and Boise (16-8) clinched their state tournament berths and punched their tickets to next week’s district championship with semifinal victories Saturday at Centennial High. Eagle cruised on a 42-point outburst from junior Berkley Jones, and Boise upset top-seeded Middleton to prove it can still contend with anyone.
The two will meet at 6 p.m. Friday at Downtown Boise’s Idaho Central Arena. Here’s how they got there.
[Related: 6A to 1A district tournament brackets, scores in Southwest Idaho]
6A SIC GIRLS BASKETBALL DISTRICT TOURNAMENT
EAGLE 67, ROCKY MOUNTAIN 41: Junior Berkley Jones started Saturday on fire and never cooled off, dropping a program-record 42 points to carry the third-seeded Mustangs back to the district championship game and clinch a state tournament berth for a second straight year.
Jones started 4-for-4 behind the 3-point line and scored 19 of her team’s 22 points in the first quarter alone. She kept up that blistering pace the rest of the night, setting the school’s single-game scoring record for the second time this season while sinking 16-of-20 shots, including 7-of-9 3-pointers.
“The kid’s a stud. I mean, what more do you say about a kid like that?” Eagle coach Jeremy Munroe said. “She works her tail off, does it the right way, is a great teammate.
“The person she is, the player she is, the teammate she is — all of it — it doesn’t surprise me. I’m just proud of her and what she does.”
Whispers spread through the crowd after each bucket. Fans on both sides asked, “How many points does she have now?” Rocky Mountain coach BJ Humphreys could only shake his head.
Even Jones didn’t know how prolific her night was until a postgame interview. The junior with 13 Division I offers gasped after hearing the number.
“I had no clue,” she said with a laugh.
But her contributions weren’t limited to the scoring line. The reigning 6A All-Idaho first-team selection added nine rebounds, five steals and two assists, terrorizing Rocky Mountain on both ends of the court.
“Mentally coming into this game, I was really prepared, really wanting to get after it,” Jones offered as an explanation. “And then with the momentum of the first quarter, I feel like I just built off of that.”
While the rest of the district tournament featured several upsets, Jones and the Mustangs have racked up back-to-back mercy-rule victories in the tournament.
The Mustangs started the game making their first five 3-pointers for a 17-5 lead, and they led by 10 or more points the rest of the night. Jones’ assist to a streaking Taya Nelson (nine points) for a fastbreak layup with 5:28 left put Eagle up 30, triggering a running clock for the rest of the game.
“It shows our toughness and how mentally tough we were,” Jones said. “Coming into this, we knew everyone comes to play in districts. But we came in super strong and ready to go.”
Junior Liv Sangsland led Rocky Mountain with 11 points, and freshman Gemma Liotta added eight points. The seventh-seeded Grizzlies (15-9) can still clinch a state tournament berth with a win in one of their next two games, including a 6 p.m. contest Tuesday against Timberline at Owyhee.
BOISE 59, MIDDLETON 51: The Brave started the season with three straight losses, an inauspicious start for the four-time defending district champ. But no one can argue with the ending.
Fifth-seeded Boise (16-8) drained 9-of-17 3-pointers and did what no other 6A SIC had done all season — solve the Vikings’ high-pressure defense — to punch its ticket to the state tournament and next week’s district championship game.
Libby Nelson drained 4-of-7 3-pointers for a game-high 21 points, and fellow senior Olivia Chatfield hit 4-of-8 behind the arc for 18 points to carry Boise to the upset over top-seeded Middleton (18-4).
“We knew we had to hit 3s,” Boise coach Seth Newville said. “I figured their big game plan was to be able to take away Nya (Pellant-Latham) inside, and they did a good job of that. But Libby and Olivia just stepped up. They shot in rhythm. They shot with confidence. And we knew we needed that.”
Boise entered the year with limited expectations, finishing fourth in the 6A SIC preseason coaches’ poll despite those four straight district titles. The Brave didn’t return any starters from last year’s state runner-up, longtime coach Kim Brydges resigned in the offseason, and those three straight season-opening losses confirmed some of the worst fears.
But Nelson, a four-year varsity member, said the new group just needed more time.
“Going into the year, we’ve had a lot of people being like, ‘Oh, Boise. Whatever, whatever, whatever,’” Nelson said. “But, you know, we are Boise. We are four-time district champions, and we want to make it five.
“We’re always a contender for the state championship. So we just need to get that confidence back, especially with some new girls who needed to step up.”
That confidence was on display early as Boise withstood the early onslaught from Middleton, which mounted an undefeated conference season while petitioning to play up in the state’s top classification.
Boise and Middleton battled to seven lead changes through halftime. But the Brave built a seven-point lead at the break, then Nelson and Chatfield combined to hit 4-of-4 3-pointers in the third quarter to take control of the game.
Middleton made it a four-point game when Zoey Blackwell converted a putback with 1:17 left. But Boise converted 6-of-10 free throws down the stretch to stave off the comeback and punch its ninth straight ticket to the state tournament.
“When you wear the Boise jersey, this is kind of an expectation the last couple years,” Newville said. “We’ve done this the last five years, but this was a new group.
“And to start the year, we lost our first three games. I think it’s really easy to, at that point, get negative and go south. But they just fought and fought and fought. And it’s a testament to these girls.”
The loss snapped Middleton’s 11-game winning streak and sent the Vikings into the losers’ bracket, where they take on second-seeded Borah in a winner-to-state game at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Owyhee.
Blackwell paced Middleton on Saturday with 13 points on 5-for-19 shooting and four assists, while Dawn Holman and Aysha Fried each added nine points.
TIMBERLINE 44, MOUNTAIN VIEW 36: Emmi Swillie bounced back from a 1-for-11 shooting performance in a first-round loss to post a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds to save the Wolves’ season in an elimination game Saturday at Owyhee.
Alexa Reinke added eight points and four assists, and Whitney Watson chipped in eight points off the bench for Timberline (19-5), which takes on Rocky Mountain in a winner-to-state game 6 p.m. Tuesday at Owyhee.
Addie Lee scored 11 points, and Quincy Keller added 10 points and seven rebounds in the season-ending loss for Mountain View (14-10).
BORAH 45, CAPITAL 34: Kya Davis racked up 24 points, and Abi Howington added 10 as the second-seeded Lions avoided elimination Saturday at Owyhee.
Borah (19-4) advances to take on top-seeded Middleton in a winner-to-state game at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Owyhee. The loser can still make it to state with another victory Wednesday.
Carrie Cutler led Capital (13-11) with 13 points in the Eagles’ final game of the season. Miriam Stafford added nine points and three steals, and Eden Francis finished with eight points and seven rebounds.
This story was originally published February 7, 2026 at 9:51 PM.
