Both teams played like champions when the Richfield Tigers (23-4) and Carey Panthers (19-7) clashed Saturday for the State 1A Division 2 girls' basketball championship at The Idaho Center in Nampa.
It was Carey's first visit to the state championship game but the Panthers played aggressively and earned a 16-16 halftime tie against a Richfield team making its third visit in four years to the title game.
Then, a bad break turned things around just before half.
Carey's senior rebounding leader Amy Ellsworth broke three bones in her foot making a running 15-foot basket with 24 seconds left in the second period and couldn't play after the half. "It was devastating for our team and for Amy," said fourth-year Carey coach Lane Durtschi.
As it has proved under ninth-year coach Steve Kent, Richfield (23-4, 97-9 four seasons) doesn't need much of an opening to crash right through—and the Tigers did just that after the half led by its outstanding senior guard Teenie Kent (24.3 ppg at state).
Kent scored 13 of her game-high 21 points after half as Richfield held off the never-say-die Carey team 41-35 for its second straight State 1A Division 2 title, and its third in four years. Over four years with pure shooter Kent in the backcourt, Richfield has a 13-1 state mark.
It was close all the way. Richfield's biggest lead was 31-22 early in the fourth quarter. There were seven lead changes and four ties. But, with sophomore Nicky Gomez (a season-high 11 points) scoring 9 points with 4 rebounds in the fourth, Carey pulled to within three points with a minute left.
Durtschi said, "Our girls kept fighting and played extremely well under tough circumstances. I'm very proud. But Richfield is a great team, and Teenie is an amazing player. She shoots the ball as well as any player in the state tournament, from 5A on down."
Accepting the first-place trophy, Richfield coach Kent said, "This is by far the smallest team to ever come away with a state championship."
The Tigers, ranging in size from 5-2 to 5-6, were out-rebounded 116-72 in three state games but limited their turnovers (43, to 74 for foes), had 48 steals on defense and shot 32% from 3-point range (20-for-62) with 69% free throw shooting.
But Carey had its own game changer in senior Jessica Parke. The speedy senior guard stretched her all-time school scoring record to 1,129 points with a 19.3 ppg average in three state games last weekend. Parke ended with a school-record 429 points (16.5 ppg) and 23 double-digit games out of 26.
Parke nearly single-handedly put her team into the state championship game with 25 points, 7 steals and 3 assists in Carey's 45-43 semi-final victory over North Gem of Bancroft (18-6) on Friday afternoon at Nampa High School gym. She drilled three 3-pointers.
Durtschi said, "Jess kept us in the game. She's a total team player. She wants everything for the team."
In that game against a much taller North Gem squad, Carey trailed by 10 points, 33-23, midway through the third quarter. But Parke said the Panthers relied on their team motto: "One possession at a time, and try not to look at the scoreboard," she said afterwards.
Amy Ellsworth (9 points, 10 rebounds, 5 steals) led the furious Carey rally with all 9 of her points in the final 12 minutes. Turnovers (34) killed the Cowboys, who didn't score for five full minutes while Carey's defense was clamping down. Ellsworth's 18-footer made it 43-38 with 2:16 left. Her two free throws in a one-on-one situation gave Carey a 45-40 lead.
Carey assistant coach Merrilee Sears said about her team's rally from a 26-20 halftime deficit, "Our energy level was down in the first half and we were giving them wide-open shots. We just told them to stick with it and keep attacking. To get more movement and give the girls something different to do, we switched defenses from a 1-2-2 in the first half to a triangle-and-two after the half."
Although North Gem out-rebounded Carey 34-18, the Panther defenders started contesting every outside shot and picking off lob passes when the Cowboys went inside. Durtschi said, "North Gem owned us outside in the first half so we switched defenses and shut down their shooters. As the game went on we also got them frustrated with our press."
Quick-starting Carey, ahead 26-12 at half, also beat the Meadows Valley Mountaineers 56-39 in Thursday's first round at Nampa High. Parke tallied 17 points, Ellsworth 9 with 13 rebounds and 4 steals, Micaela Adamson 12 points and Jaide Parke 8 points plus 5 steals.
Carey, making its third straight state trip, captured the school's best-ever state tournament finish and equaled the 19-7 winning record of the 1996 Panther team that won the State 1A consolation trophy.
About making it to the state championship showcase of The Idaho Center, Durtschi said, "I think it's everything for these girls to make it here. Jessica and the other seniors were freshmen when I took over and we took a lot of lumps. We've made it to state three straight years and we've also won our first-round game every year."
In other state divisions:
1A Division 1: Clearwater Valley (21-5) won its first state title since 1995 51-49 in overtime over defending champion Lapwai (23-3) in a rematch of last year's state title game won by Lapwai by 11 points. Raft River of Malta (18-11) was third.
State 2A: West Jefferson (18-8) took its second straight title 65-46 over Soda Springs (20-4).
State 3A: Priest River (19-6) won its first-ever state championship 45-33 over Kellogg (18-9). Both finalist teams weren't even in last year's state tournament. Kimberly (20-4) beat defending champ Sugar-Salem (22-4) in Thursday's opener, but went home with losses to Priest River and Weiser.
State 4A: Middleton (25-1) took its second title in three years 44-42 over previously unbeaten Bonneville of Idaho Falls (25-1). Jerome (24-2) was third for a second consecutive year. Great Basin Conference runner-up Twin Falls (16-11) went 0-2 with losses to Middleton and Moscow.
State 5A: Coeur d'Alene (22-4) earned its third straight 5A title and eighth overall 51-45 over Lewiston (21-3).
Here are Carey's final stats:
Final statistics: Carey 19-7 (12-2 home, 7-5 away, 8-2 league). Offense: 1230 points (47.3 ppg, 2 points higher than last year). Defense: 906 points (34.8 ppg, 2 points lower). Individual scorers: Jessica Parke 429 points (16.5), Amy Ellsworth 205 (8.2), Micaela Adamson 208 (8.0), Jaide Parke 176 (6.8), Nicky Gomez 93 (3.6), Angela Ellsworth 61, Candace Hennefer 26, Darby Northcott 20 and Morgan Parke 10. 3-pointers (54): Jessica Parke 25, Jaide Parke 19, Angela Ellsworth 8, Amy Ellsworth 1 and Nicky Gomez 1. Free throws: 232-427, 54%. Opponents 224-412, 54%.
NOTES—Amy Ellsworth finished a fine four-year varsity career with 594 points....She and Micaela Adamson each scored 22 state tournament points, and Ellsworth led the way on the boards with 29 rebounds plus 8 steals.....Ellsworth was a huge factor taking away Richfield's outside shooting with 4 blocked shots in the second quarter of Saturday's championship game. Moving quickly in Carey's zone defense, she shifted to the wings and swatted away shot after shot.....Talented sophomore Adamson came up big with 4 points and 12 rebounds plus 2 blocks in the title contest. Nicky Gomez added 7 boards and played a vital role in Carey taking it down to the wire.
Jessica Parke (19.3 ppg state) shot 51% from the field (23-45) and 64% at the free throw line (9-for-14) to go along with 12 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 steals. In the title game, she had 16 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals and 4 assists......Turnovers hurt Carey in the second half against Richfield as Ellsworth wasn't on the floor to help thwart Richfield's full-court pressure. Carey had 27 turnovers for the game, 17 coming after the half.....Richfield role players supporting Teenie Kent's drive for a repeat title included her younger sister Sasha Kent (6 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals), junior Breanna Brockman (5 points, 5 boards, 2 steals), junior Mirian Rivas (6 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists) and the only other senior, Victoria Hettenbach (4 steals).....Carey's Candace Hennefer had a fine game on the boards against Meadows Valley with seven off the glass. Jaide Parke added 8 points and 5 steals in Thursday's opening round win.....Carey and Richfield ended up splitting their four games this season 2-2, with Carey winning twice at home. Three of the games were settled by a mere total of 11 points.
For its three state games, Carey shot 32% from the field (51-for-157) including 7-for-30 (23%) from 3-point range. The Panthers were 27-for-50 (54%) for their free throw shooting. They out-rebounded their opponents by a small margin, 115-111, and had 36 steals to 21 for foes. In the turnover category, Carey had 58 and opponents 63.
First-year Carey assistant coach Merrilee Udy-Sears was born and raised in American Falls and was "Player of the Year" as a senior for the 2000 American Falls State 3A girls' basketball championship team. She played two seasons at Ricks College in Rexburg before finishing her college career at Pocatello's Idaho State University. At Ricks she averaged 7.6 ppg and 4.3 assists and started for the 2002 national qualifying team and was a Region 18 All-Tournament player. She led the ISU Bengals to a NIT appearance in 2004 and ranks third all-time in career assists. Merrilee graduated from ISU with a secondary education degree. Working mainly with guards, she coached at the College of Southern Idaho for three years under Randy Rogers and was instrumental in academic advising. She married Brian Sears and moved to Carey where he has been a cowboy. This year Merrilee returned to coaching with the Carey girls.
Female head coaches still aren't common in Idaho high school girls' basketball. In this year's group of 48 head coaches in the six state tournament divisions, only 11 were female, meaning 77% were male coaches. However, two of the six state championship coaches were female—Jessica Shanafelt for a second straight year with West Jefferson of Terreton and Krisi Pratt of Clearwater Valley. Since the Idaho High School Activities Association started sanctioning girls' basketball in 1976, there have been 141 state champions, 37 coached by women (26%).
Three of the six state champion teams this year came from northern Idaho, and six of the 12 finalist teams came from the Panhandle.......In IHSAA annals, 60 of the 141 state title teams have been from northern Idaho, or 43%......Wood River High School's second-year coach Mendy Benson brought many of her varsity basketball players to The Idaho Center in Nampa to watch the Richfield-Carey championship game Saturday. They rooted for Carey behind the Panther bench. Wolverine leading scorer Kaitana Martinez is the daughter of Carey assistant coach Ron Martinez and has attended several of Carey's games since the end of her season.
In Richfield's remarkable four-year run at the 1A state tournament, the Tigers had a 13-1 record and outscored opponents 716-453 (51-32). They won three state championships, captured fourth place in 2008 and lost only one game—to Garden Valley 32-31 in the second round of the 16-team tournament in 2008. Teenie Kent played all four years and scored 193 points in her 14 state tournament games for an average of 13.8 ppg. She set new 1A Division 2 state tournament records for single-game points (32 against Dietrich Friday) and total tournament points (73). For the tournament she averaged 24.3 ppg with 23-54 field goals (43%) including 9-for-23 from 3-point territory (39%). She also shot 18-for-23 (78%) at the free throw line, made 13 steals and played 93 out of a total 96 minutes in three games. Her 32 points fell shy of other single-game records set by two eventual collegiate players—Madison's Brittney Hawks of Washington State (47 points in 1998) and Rimrock's 6-1 Mindy Rice Larsen of Southern Utah (45 points in 1991).
Kent set the state tournament record of 32 points in Richfield's 44-39 semi-final triumph over Northside Conference champion Dietrich on Friday at Nampa High School. In a rematch of last year's state championship game, hot-shooting Richfield (41% first half, 34% game) set the tone building a 25-14 lead at halftime. Kent (9-for-19 field goals, 3-for-7 from 3-point range, 11-14 free throws) had 5 rebounds and 3 steals and played 30 minutes despite foul trouble. Dietrich (20-5) out-rebounded Richfield 39-23 led by junior Shayla Porter (4 points, 10 rebounds) and 5-10 sophomore Moriah Dill (12 points, 6 rebounds). Dietrich secured third place Saturday with a 56-49 win over North Gem—meaning the Northside Conference placed 1-2-3 for a second straight year.
Carey High School senior Jessica Parke scores two of her game-high 25 points during Carey’s 45-43 semi-final victory over North Gem Friday at Nampa High School gym. Courtesy photo by John Peck
