Revenge was on the menu at 6A girls basketball tournament. Two teams grabbed it
Two teams got their revenge on the first day of the Idaho 6A girls basketball state tournament, and third fell just short of payback.
Three of the four first-round games at the Ford Idaho Center featured rematches from last year’s opening round. Eagle and Rigby got their retribution Thursday, but Borah’s late rally fell just short of making it an even sweep for the revenge seekers.
Middleton added a runaway victory over Timberline to cap the day, setting up Friday’s semifinals.
6A STATE SEMIFINAL MATCHUPS
- No. 1 Eagle (23-2) vs. No. 4 Coeur d’Alene (22-2), 5 p.m.
- No. 3 Middleton (20-4) vs. No. 2 Rigby (24-0), 7:30 p.m.
[Related: Scores, updated brackets from every Idaho girls basketball state tournament]
IDAHO 6A GIRLS BASKETBALL STATE TOURNAMENT
EAGLE 73, MADISON 51: The Mustangs didn’t entertain any thoughts of another upset Thursday, pouncing on Madison early to avenge a first-round loss at last year’s tournament.
Top-seeded Eagle forced 11 first-quarter turnovers and held the Bobcats to a pair of field goals before the first break. The Mustangs kept rolling from there, extending their lead to 20 points before halftime and never letting Madison get any closer than nine points the rest of the afternoon.
“I would say we definitely had a little chip on our shoulder,” Eagle senior Trinity Holsinger said. “... So I think that really gave us a lot of energy, especially out the gate, to just come out and try to get some revenge.”
Eagle coach Jeremy Munroe said last year’s upset sat with the Mustangs all year. And while Eagle scored a 26-point win over Madison in November, he said he wanted the Mustangs to take control early and not let the Bobcats hang in the game.
A flurry of full-court presses and traps flustered Madison into those 11 first-quarter turnovers, fueling easy buckets and tilting the floor in Eagle’s favor.
“We didn’t want it to feel like it’s going to be a battle,” Munroe said. “We want to try to take care of business early. The girls did a great job, coming out and stepping up.”
Junior guard Berkley Jones led Eagle to its 10th straight win — and fifth by 20 or more points — with 24 points and eight rebounds while sinking 10-of-14 shots.
Fellow junior guard Taya Nelson added 16 points and six rebounds. And Holsinger caught fire in the second half, finishing with 15 points to send Eagle to the semifinals for the first time since 2020.
Brodie Spencer led Madison with 15 points on 5-for-10 shooting behind the 3-point line, and Mia Walsh added 13 points. The eighth-seeded Bobcats (16-10) drop into the consolation bracket, where they face Borah at 12 p.m. Friday at Mountain View.
COEUR D’ALENE 61, BORAH 59: The fourth-seeded Vikings survived a furious fourth-quarter comeback for their 16th straight win. And they can thank a girl who didn’t score a single point.
With Coeur d’Alene nursing a two-point lead, sophomore Lexi Wheeler peeled off her defender to dive and poke the ball loose from Borah’s Kya Davis. The hustle play denied the fifth-seeded Lions their best chance at a game-tying or game-winning shot, forcing a jump ball with 1.7 seconds left.
“She wants to score,” Coeur d’Alene coach Stacy Boyd said. “But I told her there’s more to the game than just scoring. You can impact a game like she just did.”
Drama ensued at the scorer’s table as the possession arrow initially signaled it was the Vikings’ ball. But officials overturned the decision, awarding Borah the chance for a last shot. But Wheeler’s floor burn drained so much time off the clock, the Lions couldn’t get off a shot.
“That was huge,” Coeur d’Alene junior Brookeslee Colvin said. “She was willing to put her body on the line for our team. She really helped us get that win tonight.”
Colvin continued adding to her state player of the year campaign Thursday, racking up 35 points, 10 rebounds and three assists for the Vikings. Her hot start helped Coeur d’Alene build a 15-point lead early in the third quarter, and the Vikings led by as many as 11 in the fourth quarter.
But just like last year’s first-round matchup, Borah mounted a fourth-quarter rally. The Lions cut the lead to two when Davis sank a pair of free throws with 14.2 seconds left. Then a double team from Evodie Evans and Brooklyn Gardiner forced Colvin to step on her own baseline, creating a backcourt turnover.
But Wheeler forced the jump ball to spoil Davis’ chance at becoming the hero, and a last-second pass to Borah’s Brinley Chase under the basket sailed harmlessly out of bounds.
“We showed what we really were in the fourth quarter, and it was just a little too late,” Borah coach Ebony Norman said. “Shots weren’t made. Layups weren’t made. But that fourth quarter team is us, 24/7, and we should have played like that.”
Davis led Borah with 23 points on 10-for-13 shooting, and Evans chipped in 12 points, making the Lions’ only 3-pointer as they finished the afternoon 1-for-16 behind the arc.
The reigning state consolation champs still get a chance to defend that trophy, starting with a loser-out game against Madison at 12 p.m. Friday at Mountain View.
MIDDLETON 58, TIMBERLINE 38: As a pass-first point guard, Zoey Blackwell doesn’t always light up the scoreboard. But she put her name all over the box score Thursday to carry the Vikings to their first state tournament victory in Idaho’s top classification.
The Wyoming signee racked up a career-high 32 points while shooting 14-for-18 from the floor and taking over the game on both ends of the floor.
“It just kind of came,” Blackwell said of her offensive outburst. “I’m always looking for my teammates. Being a point guard, I always just want to assist and help my teammates. But when they need me, I’ll show up and help them out as well.”
The four-year starter wasted little time, sinking the game’s first bucket on a 15-foot jumper. She never cooled off, putting up 11 of her team’s 20 points in the first quarter alone.
Blackwell created many of her own shots Thursday, terrorizing Timberline guards and picking their pockets for easy layups. Her gunslinger-quick hands created six steals and made opponents look like they were playing in slow motion.
“Obviously, it’s a lot of natural ability. But she’s really known that’s her craft,” said Middleton coach Marianne Blackwell, Zoey’s mother. “She’s really worked on it to know where the ball is as people cross over. It’s been such a fun thing to watch.”
A thin Timberline roster entered the night even more depleted with leading scorer and rebounder Emmi Swillie out with an illness. That left just six regular varsity players in the Wolves’ lineup, a dangerous situation against Middleton’s pressure defense.
The Vikings teed off without a post presence to worry about, forcing 27 turnovers to lead the entire evening. Middleton finished the night shooting 24-for-68 (35%) from the floor, 5 percentage points below its season average. But the Vikings made up for it by holding Timberline to just 27 field goal attempts.
“Those extra opportunities win games,” Zoey Blackwell said.
Junior forward Megan Stewart added a double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds for Middleton.
Fanci Sackett led Timberline (20-6) with 14 points, and Reese Vachek added 11 points and a team-high seven rebounds. The Wolves drop into the consolation bracket, where they will face Boise at 2 p.m. Friday at Mountain View.
RIGBY 54, BOISE 40: The Trojans lost to Boise two years in a row at the state tournament. But second-seeded Rigby got a bit of revenge Thursday, cruising to a first-round victory and extending its undefeated season.
Neither team put up a single point in the game’s opening three minutes. But Rigby eventually found its outside shot, hitting 4-of-7 3-pointers in the first half to build a double-digit lead 1:27 before halftime. The Trojans maintained that the rest of the night.
“I think they just finally settled in,” Rigby coach Todd Barber said. “They saw a few shots fall through the net, and you know how that is. It’s just a confidence booster.
“... Once we got a few to go, we started to click.”
That click spread throughout the Rigby roster as four players finished in double figures. Alaska Anchorage signee Kinzley Larsen led the way with 16 points and seven rebounds. Lauren Burnside added 14 points and eight rebounds, while Brinley Larsen chipped in 11 points and Bailey Barber had 10.
The runaway victory kept Rigby’s chance of a perfect season alive. But Todd Barber said that’s not a stat the Trojans focus on.
“We’ve never brought it up, our record,” Todd Barber said. “The girls just go out, compete and focus on that next challenge, that next team, what we need to do to just go out and win that next game.
“Obviously, it’s led to 24. But it’s never brought up.”
Eastern Idaho teams often enter the tournament overlooked. No school east of Boise has won a state title in the largest classification since 1990. But after a dominant victory Thursday, Rigby earned the respect of Boise coach Seth Newville.
Beyond Rigby’s size, athleticism and shooting touch, Newville pointed to Rigby’s patience as a key to success.
“Part of our strength all year has been being able to make games kind of chaotic, and make games kind of crazy with our speed and our youth,” Newville said. “But they didn’t really let us do that, and that really disrupted our flow.”
Senior guard Olivia Chatfield led the Brave with 13 points, and junior forward Nya Pellant-Lathem added 10 points and five rebounds. But Boise (16-10) will need to make a run through the tournament’s consolation bracket to extend its streak of six straight years with a state tournament trophy.
That run begins with a loser-out match against Timberline at 2 p.m. Friday at Mountain View.
This story was originally published February 19, 2026 at 4:57 PM.
