Timberline puts legendary coach at a loss for words by stunning Boise for first state title in 19 years

NAMPA - Andy Jones has won a lot of state titles - seven now to be exact.

But this might have been the first time that the Timberline High School girls basketball coach was at a loss for words following a state final win. While the rest of his team ran out of the locker room to join their friends and family back near the court, Jones sat quietly in the tunnel of the Ford Idaho Center for several minutes and only got up when the media came over for an interview.

It’s hard to blame him.

The Wolves overcame a four-point deficit with 46 seconds left with star guard and Division I signee Audrey Taylor (Northern Arizona) fouled out to stun Boise 36-35 for their first title in 19 years Saturday night in the Idaho Class 5A State Championship game.

“I’m in shock right now,” Jones said. “... I don’t even know what the score was. Everything happened so fast.”

That’s an understatement.

Things looked grim.

Taylor fouled out with one minute and 45 seconds to go. Timberline then watched as Boise took its first lead since the opening minutes of the first quarter on a pair of free throws by sophomore wing Avery Howell. She then made it a two-possession game on another set of free throws with 46 seconds remaining.

So when fellow Northern Arizona signee Sophie Glancey swished a pair of free throws to trim the deficit in half at 35-33 with just 21 seconds remaining, it appeared like the No. 2 Wolves (25-2) were going to have to resort to fouling and hope the fifth-seed Brave (21-4) missed at the charity stripe.

Junior guard Lauren McCall had other ideas.

She and junior wing Kailey Huegerich swarmed Boise’s Ella Nelson on the inbounds pass. Nelson lost the ball and it ended up right in the hands of McCall, who instantly shot a step-back 3.

Nothing but net.

Timberline suddenly had a 36-35 lead with 15 seconds to go.

“It was just the want to win,” McCall said. “That’s all it was.”

The scene was so chaotic that Jones didn’t fully realize the score and didn’t call timeout to set up the defense. So Boise tried to take advantage by immediately going the length of the floor. Nelson drove the lane before feeding a bounce pass to 6-foot-4 post Ashley Banks for a lay-in attempt. But Glancey swatted it at the last possible moment and ended up in a jump ball with Nelson. The arrow favored Timberline with just 5.2 ticks remaining. 

Glancey was then intentionally fouled two seconds later. She missed the first free throw before Boise called a timeout. Glancey tried to intentionally miss the second one to run out the clock. However, the rebound came straight to the Brave, who called their last timeout for a potential game-winning play.

Banks took the inbounds pass and tried to heave it to senior wing Ava Oakland. But it was intercepted by Huegerich, preserving McCall’s late-game heroics that will live forever in school history.

“Having her hit that shot and catapult us to a state championship out of the depths of despair, that should really be just a launching pad for her for her senior year,” Jones said.

Despair was a familiar word for the program not that long ago. It missed the tournament 13 consecutive times - the longest 5A postseason drought at the time - before Jones’ arrival from Middleton four years ago. Timberline then lost to Mountain View in the 2020 final before falling to the Mavericks in the opening round last year when Jones had to leave mid-game in a wheelchair due to high blood pressure from an earlier coronavirus infection.

But all of that was in the past Saturday night as the Wolves hoisted up the second state title in program history.

“No one was wanting this win for themselves,” said Glancey, who's been there for all of it having been on varsity the last four years. “We’re a team, we’re together in this, we fought to get here together. We seriously fought every game. We fought to get here and we’re all here for each other. It’s not ‘I want to win,’ it’s ‘we want to win.”

For Jones, it’s the third different program he’s won a championship with. He won his first at Caldwell (2001), five in Middleton (2008, 10, 11, 12, 17) and now one with Timberline. 

“I love my coach. … He game planned the shit out of that game," McCall said. “He wanted it for us and we wanted it for him.” 

Jones sits firmly ahead of all other active coaches. None of them have more than five. The only person for him to catch is Emery Roy, who won nine championships during his tenures at Meridian and Centennial.

Glancey recorded a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds. McCall finished with nine.

Banks, a Southern Utah signee, also chalked up a double-double with a game-high 14 points and 10 boards. Howell, who has three DI offers, including Boise State, very nearly had a double-double herself with 12 points and nine rebounds. Howell scored seven of her points in the fourth quarter.

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