Melba caps perfect 26-0 season with Idaho 2A girls basketball state championship
NAMPA, Idaho - It wasn’t pretty. But it was perfect.
The No. 1 Melba High School girls basketball team had arguably its worst game of the season with 23 turnovers and a shooting percentage of 38.2. But it still found a way to do something that no other team in program history had ever done.
Finish undefeated.
The Mustangs capped a 26-0 campaign with a 55-46 win over perennial power No. 2 Soda Springs in the Class 2A state final for their second championship in three years Saturday at the Ford Idaho Center.
“It was definitely a relief to finally realize it was over,” said Melba coach David Lenz who raised his hands almost in exasperation with six seconds remaining. “We didn’t talk about being undefeated. But everybody else did. Probably a little bit of pressure there. But I thought they did a great job handling it.”
None more so than in the third quarter.
The title and the perfect season seemed to be slipping away from them. They made two field goals for the entire period to suddenly find themselves with their biggest deficit of the season at 33-28 with two minutes and 59 seconds left. It was also only their third time trailing all year.
The Cardinals (22-5) had quickly erased an 11-point deficit (27-16) at the beginning of the quarter with a 17-1 run in a span of four and a half minutes. But despite all of that, Melba somehow found itself tied at 33-33 going into the final quarter.
“I think we really had to keep our heads and stay under control. And in the third quarter, things got really crazy and the momentum really swung,” said Hallie Arnold who finished with 11 points, three steals and two rebounds. “But I think we did a good job of bringing it back in the fourth quarter and resetting.”
Kendall Clark did that herself.
The likely Class 2A Player of the Year was maybe having one of her worst games of the season at the time. She was shooting 2-of-6 from the field, 44.4% from the free line and had committed five turnovers. It all only equaled out to be eight points.
But as she was walking back onto the court, she looked up. Sitting in the front row was her entire family, including sister Kate, who she won the school’s first title with in 2021. Their dialogue couldn’t be made out. But Kendall Clark gave them a simple head nod.
“They knew how much I’ve been working on free throws. They’re like, ‘It’s OK. Calm down. You got it. 0-0. You need to step up right now and take it,’” Clark said. “They really fill me with a lot of confidence to help me through.”
The Northwest Nazarene signee responded with 10 points alone in the fourth quarter. She went 8-of-9 from the charity stripe to help the Mustangs slowly but surely, start to pull away.
Clark ending up having a double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds.
“She looked a little timid at first,” Lenz said. “I called her over earlier and I don’t know if this had anything to do with it, but I just said, ‘You’re the best player in the state of Idaho at this level. And you can’t play like you’re playing now.’ And I thought she did a great job after that.”
The rest of the team followed suit.
With the game knotted again at 35-35, Arnold buried a deep 3-pointer to jumpstart a 14-4 run. It put Melba back up by double digits at 49-39 with 4:10 to go.
The Cardinals did cut the deficit in half two minutes later. But the Mustangs defense kept them off of the scoreboard for the final minutes of the game. They forced 23 turnovers and held Soda to 32.1% shooting from the field to preserve the first unbeaten season by an Idaho team since Bonneville in 2020. They’re also the first Class 2A team to go undefeated since Soda Springs in 2018.
“Oh yeah I’ll absolutely talk about it now,” said Kendall Clark with a laugh.
The unblemished mark didn’t just come against teams in its own classification. Melba intentionally scheduled to play the likes of 11-time state champion Lapwai, 4A state qualifier Columbia and 5A’s Mountain View, which is only two years removed from a state championship.
It didn’t matter.
The Mustangs still beat all but four opponents by double digits with an average margin of around 26 points per game.
So it all begs the question, is this the best team in school history?
“I don’t know if I can answer this without getting in trouble,” Clark said with a smile.
Her older sister Emma was also a part of some great Melba teams, including the one in 2018 that went 24-1. It only lost to the aforementioned Soda Springs team in the state semifinals.
But Arnold didn’t have any problem answering.
“I would say yeah,” Arnold said with a chagrin.
Taylor Billman and Jinettie Garbett tallied 16 and 13 points, respectively, for the Cardinals, who were in their first final since 2020.
PHOTO GALLERY
(All photos by Loren Orr)
CLASS 1A DIVISION I
NO. 3 RAFT RIVER 38, NO. 5 OAKLEY 34
The Trojans (24-3) hadn’t played in a state title game in 16 years.
They sure didn’t look like it.
Raft River erased a late 6-point deficit with a 16-6 run to capture the first state championship in program history.
“It was our goal from the start. Well more of a dream than a goal,” Raft River coach Bart Deters said. “We lost the district championship and we’re here. The drive these girls have is amazing. They have a lot of heart and they play for each other. That’s what makes them special.”
But its district rivals nearly got the best of them again.
The Hornets (21-5), who had beaten the Trojans two consecutive times, including at districts last week, held a 28-22 advantage with 5:30 to play.
“We came to a timeout and not a single one of us dropped our heads,” said senior forward Caroline Schumann who posted 18 points and six rebounds. “We said, ‘OK, it’s time to go to work. Let’s go get this thing.’”
They did just that.
Senior wing Jessi Knudsen, who hadn’t hit a single shot all game, put Raft River ahead at 31-30 with just two minutes remaining on a deep 3. Those ending up being her only points of the game.
“She’s been struggling lately with her shot. But she’s there in the clutch,” Deters said. “She comes through in the key moments.”
The Trojans then had another unlikely player come through for them. Senior forward Logan Jones, whose only contributions for 31 minutes and 50 seconds, were two rebounds and a steal, ended up making the game’s biggest play.
A missed free throw by senior guard Reagan Jones with just 10.6 seconds remaining, kept it a one-possession game at 37-34. But Logan Jones bailed her out. She picked the pocket of Kylan Jones and drew the foul with only 1.6 ticks left.
Jones missed the first free throw. But she calmly collected herself and sealed the come-from-behind win by sinking the second.
“It was incredible,” Schumann said. “Her defense was there all night. Her offense might not have been there this game. But she never quit on defense.”
Reagan Jones also reached double digits in scoring with 11 points and seven boards for the Trojans, who held the Hornets to just two field goals during that stretch.
No player got into double figures for Oakley. Kylan Jones was the closest with nine points.
CLASS 1A DIVISION II
NO. 6 COUNCIL 52,NO. 4 DIETRICH 42
Paula Tucker admitted her team was a little overwhelmed in last year’s state title championship.
The Council head’s coach’s team fell 44-26 to Rockland.
“We were pretty shell-shocked. We didn’t have the competition we needed to be prepared for that game. But we played some better teams this year. We didn’t always play great against some of those teams. But we got the pressure and the high-volume basketball that prepared us for this.”
But the Lumberjacks (17-5) were more than ready this time around. They handled the bright lights and the 12,000-seat plus venue of the Ford Idaho Center on their way to bringing home the first state title in program history.
“It means a lot. Not just to me or the coaches, but the whole community and town,” said junior post McKayla Hart who finished with a double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds, “To be the first state champions in Council history, I don’t even know how to feel about that. It’s just amazing.”
It also helped that Council basically brought everyone back, including four returning starters. While losing to the likes of Class 2A state qualifier Grangeville, it dominated within its own classification. All of the Lumberjacks’ wins came by double figures, including Saturday’s, thanks to a pair of late free throws by junior wing Hope Zolloman with 5.5 seconds remaining.
Council was pushed by the Blue Devils (22-4) for three and a half quarters, through. There were 10 lead changes and 10 ties during that time frame.
But with the Lumberjacks hanging on to a 42-20 lead with a little more than four minutes left, their biggest player - literally - took over. The 6-foot-1 Hart scored five unanswered points herself. She hit a step-back 3-pointer before driving the lane for a lay-in all within less than a minute. It suddenly gave them a 47-40 lead and kickstarted an 11-2 run. Dietrich never got closer than seven points the rest of the way.
“She just has a presence that’s really hard to defend if you can’t match it,” Tucker said. “She just got stronger and stronger as the season progressed.”
Fellow senior post Isabelle Eppich also nearly had a double-double herself with 12 points and seven boards for Council, which up until last season, hadn’t played in a state final since 1988. It hadn’t qualified for state in five seasons before Tucker’s arrival from Salmon River in 2021. Tucker won a state title with Garden Valley in 2006.
“They bought in,” Tucker said. “They wanted it and they're just a talented group of kids. So I came at just the right time.”
Senior guard Hailey Astle put up a game-high 19 points, five rebounds and a pair of assists for the Blue Devils, who were back at state for the first time in four years.
