Putting trust in defense and staying focused on the task at hand, the Wood River High School girls' basketball team took a huge step forward Tuesday night with a 47-36 Great Basin Conference road victory over the Twin Falls Bruins.
The 11-point win clinched for Wood River (15-2, 8-2 league) a first-place tie in the GBC standings. Because of their two-game sweep over Twin Falls (15-4, 8-2), the Wolverines earned the top seed in next week's six-team tournament.
Junior post Haylee Thompson (11.7 ppg) scored 16 points and junior guard Kaitana Martinez (18.3 ppg) added 12 as Wood River stretched its 22-17 halftime lead into the 11-point final. It was the 13th time in 17 games that Wood River's staunch defense limited an opponent to fewer than 40 points.
Hailey coach Mendy Benson said, "We struggled early in our zone and played man-to-man de-fense almost the entire game, which we haven't done in a while. It panned out because our kids played super hard, smart and together as a team.
"We found a way to win."
Playing a highly regarded team in its own gym on "Senior Night" is a tough task, one that de-mands focus and concentration. The Wood River girls bought Benson's theory on taking it one pos-session at a time.
Benson said, "Our focus in the second half was concentrating on each possession on offense and defense and not thinking about the quarter, the half or the game. We tried to play a complete game at both ends. I thought we did a great job defensively, especially limiting them to one shot."
Twin Falls had drilled seven 3-pointers in its 47-43 loss to Wood River in Hailey Jan. 6. The Bru-ins shot 41% in that game including 7 for 12 from beyond the arc. But on Tuesday, Twin Falls shot 27% and was only 3-for-3 in 3-pointers. In contrast, Hailey shot 37%.
Said Benson, "The game was ugly at times with poor shooting, but it was caused by pretty good defense by both teams. Another huge focus for us was to get them to take shots that were even four inches out of their comfort zone by getting our heels on the 3-point line.
"Offensively, I thought we didn't really get into a flow in the second half, but somehow we'd find ways to answer if they had a big shot and would get close. We had pretty good poise at the end, al-though it took some strong reminders that we didn't need to jack up 3s at the end when we're ahead."
Thompson (8 rebounds) was particularly effective on offense, shooting 7-for-11 from the floor and moving well to the basket. She got plenty of help on the boards from Martinez (8 rebounds, 3 steals, 5 assists, 8-for-11 from the free throw line).
Other contributors were Cheyenne Swanson (7 points, 5 boards), Allie Hesteness (6 points, 3 re-bounds, 3 steals), Taylor Hayes (4 points, 3 steals), Haillie Taylor (3 rebounds) and Hunter Thomp-son (2 points). Twin Falls senior Jazlyn Nielsen, who scored 17 points in Hailey, was limited to a team-high 11 points Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Minico remained the league's hottest team with its sixth straight win Tuesday, 49-43 in overtime over Jerome. Minico trailed 27-8 at half on its home court before rallying for the vic-tory, then the Spartans won a coin flip with Jerome for the third seed.
GBC home game is Thursday
It's still way too early to project what's ahead, but a few things are already known. With its win Tuesday, Wood River has a clear-cut home court advantage in its drive for only the second state tournament berth in the program's 36 seasons.
Win two home tournament games Thursday and Saturday, Feb. 5 and they're in. Win three at home and they've not only earned their first-ever GBC tourney title, they've also got the preferred seed for the State 4A tournament Feb. 17-19 at Timberline High School, Boise.
Here are the final Great Basin Conference standings, listed by seeding for next week's tourney: 1—Wood River (15-2, 8-2). 2—Twin Falls (15-4, 8-2). 3—Minico of Rupert (9-10, 5-5). 4—Jerome 11-8 (5-5). 5—Canyon Ridge of Twin Falls (7-12, 2-8). 6—Burley 3-16 (2-8).
Jerome has won three GBC tourney titles and represented the conference along with Twin Falls at last year's State 4A tournament at Mountain View High School. Jerome captured third place over Rigby, as Middleton took its second title in three years over Bonneville.
On Thursday, Feb. 3 at 7 p.m., Wood River hosts the winner of Tuesday's game between Jerome and Canyon Ridge. The same night, Twin Falls entertains the winner of Tuesday's Minico-Burley game.
Wood River (9-0 home) has a two-season 20-1 record at home and coach Benson constantly men-tions the home crowd support as being crucial to the Hailey girls' improving from a 5-16 record two years ago, to 17-7 last winter and 15-2 this year.
Athletic director John Rade said, "These girls have worked very hard to get to the #1 seed posi-tion. They deserve to have the place packed."
Post-season tournament prices will be charged. WRHS Booster Card passholders who ordinarily get into games for free will pay $5 (adults) for admission. Students with activity cards will pay $3 and students without activity cards $5.
Wood River is now ranked fourth in the Idahosports.com 4A girls' rankings behind #1 Rigby (19-0), #2 Middleton (17-2) and #3 Preston (17-2).
Wood River junior post Haylee Thompson shoots the game-winning free throw with 14 seconds left, boosting the Wolverines to a 37-36 home win over the Jerome Tigers Jan. 20. Wood River could have another home encounter with Jerome in the Great Basin Conference tournament Thursday, Feb. 3 in Hailey. Photo by David N. Seelig
