Boise and Bishop Kelly girls each claim District III basketball titles

BOISE - Kim Brydges is running out of sweaters.

After winning 17 games in a row by an average of 32 points, the Boise High School girls basketball team has made its longtime coach sweat with several close encounters over the past few weeks, including Thursday night. 

But the result of it all was a second consecutive Class 5A District III title following a 49-47 win over Rocky Mountain at Idaho Central Arena.

Boise (21-2) will likely be the fourth or fifth seed at next week’s state tournament at the Ford Idaho Center.

"This is great because that’s what you want," Brydges said. "That’s what you want in the little part here before districts, and then district play and moving into state. That gives you a lot of confidence in those tight-game situations."

As usual, Boise’s Avery Howell paved the way. The junior forward recorded her 15th double-double of the season with 24 points and 12 rebounds. Sophomore forward Kaity Haan posted nine points and five rebounds, while sophomore guard Avery Patricco had eight points for the Brave, who seemed like they were going to get back to their routing ways.

They broke open the game in the second quarter by outscoring the Grizzlies (16-8), 19-4. That featured a 13-0 run over the last 51/2 minutes to head into the locker room up comfortably, 28-16.

"We were all pushing for a lead going into halftime just so we had that momentum coming back in the second half," Howell said.

That was exactly the case. Boise spent basically the entire third quarter up by double digits and extended the lead to as much as 13 points on two separate occasions.

But Rocky Mountain, which snapped the Brave’s 17-game winning streak Jan. 21, made things interesting at the end.

It held Boise to just one field goal in the fourth quarter. The Grizzlies also began the quarter on a 12-3 run. A long putback basket by Brielle Magnuson cut the deficit all the way down to two at 43-41 with 2:21 remaining.

Rocky Mountain then got the opportunity to either tie or take the lead for the first time since the opening quarter when Howell uncharacteristically missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw.

However, Sophia Clark, who didn’t register a single point on the night, made perhaps the biggest play of the game. The junior guard cut off the Grizzlies' Zoe Archibald, who was driving into the lane. It forced her game-tying shot to hit the top of the backboard, bounce off the front of the rim and into the hands of Howell, who was fouled on the way down.

"Sometimes the stuff she does, doesn’t show up on the scoresheets," Patricco said of Clark. "But she’s just a really big portion of why we’re so successful, especially on defense."

Howell made both free throws to make it a two-possession game at 47-41 with 43 seconds to go after Rocky Mountain's Cianna Legaspi's layin attempt was short.

"She’s (Howell) just such a beast," Patricco said. "She’s a big part of why we’re so successful. Other than her scoring and rebounding, she’s just a really great leader and is always making sure everyone else is uplifted and is just super positive."

Patricco also drained a pair of late free throws with 11.4 seconds to go. They put Boise up 49-44 and proved to be the difference with the Grizzlies' Averee Osterhout sinking a 3-pointer with just 0.1 seconds to go. So the Brave just calmly inbounded the ball Hann for their first repeat in 21 years.

"There was a lot more momentum and fury going into this game," Howell said. "I was super frustrated the last game we lost to them. So there was a little bit of extra intensity coming out of this game. We just really wanted to get the win."

Archibald tallied 12 points, three rebounds and three assists for the Grizzlies, who were making their first-ever district championship game appearance. Magnuson was right behind with 10 points and six boards, while Anna DeBella nearly notched a double-double with eight points and nine rebounds.

BISHOP KELLY ENDS RECENT CLASS 4A DISTRICT=TITLE GAME WOES

Derek McCormick didn’t need to be reminded of just how long it had been.

The longtime Bishop Kelly High girls basketball coach even referenced NFL Hall of Fame coach Marv Levy, who lost four consecutive Super Bowls with the Buffalo Bills.

"I got Marv on speed dial," McCormick said in jest.

But playing in their 10th district championship game over the [ast 15 years, the Knights got their fourth title. They claimed their first since 2018 and a spot in next week’s state tournament with a 46-28 win over Columbia in the Class 4A District III final Thursday at Idaho Central Arena.

Bishop Kelly (20-3) will open up the state tournament Feb. 16 at Timberline High School.

"We took a lot of pride in it because a lot of people at school don’t really believe in us. But we believe in each other," senior wing Addie Hiler said. "So, our whole thing is, ‘Let’s go out there and show everyone we can do this.’ We had a lot of motivation. We had a little chip on our shoulder."

Senior forward Caroline Knothe finished with 16 points and six rebounds for the Knights, who found themselves on the verge of trailing by double digits at 12-4 six minutes into the game. This was a Columbia (13-10) team that they had already beaten by 10 and 20 points earlier in the season.

But the combination of Knothe and their defense, quickly turned the tide in the second quarter.

Knothe, whose only previous points had come on the Knights’ first bucket of the game, scored seven points in the period alone. She is the older sister of all-state running back Seth Knothe.

"I had the student section saying I was living in his shadow tonight, so I had to shut them up," Knothe said with a laugh.

She certainly did so by also racking up a pair of blocks for a defensive unit that didn’t allow a single second-quarter point. Bishop Kelly forced the Wildcats to turn the ball 17 times in the first half as well. It all led to an 11-0 quarter for the Knights, who went into the break up 19-14.

"They took advantage of their opportunity and that’s what I’m most proud of," McCormick said. "We were able to get steals and they converted them into points, and I think that kind of demoralized Columbia a little bit. You could tell that the air kind of came out of the balloon for them once we picked up the defensive pressure."

Columbia never did recover.

The closest it got was three points, which came on the very first shot of the second half. However, Bishop Kelly pushed the lead to double figures by the end of the third quarter and never looked back.

The Knights ended up forcing 26 total turnovers - 19 of those were steals, holding the Wildcats to 33.3% shooting from the floor.

Ellie Robertson, Jada Myers and Mylie Mills all had seven points each for the Wildcats, who will get another opportunity to punch their ticket to state. They will play Skyview (14-10) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Vallivue High in a winner-to-state game.