BOISE, Idaho — The Boise Brave girls basketball team defeated Rocky Mountain in the Southern Idaho Conference Championship on Saturday night 50-31 at Idaho Central Arena.
The team celebrated after winning the district title and clinching the number one seed in the state tournament, Rocky Mountain also qualified for the state tournament they made it to the state championship last year.
"I’m feeling pretty good," said Avery Howell who led the Brave with 16 points and ten rebounds. "Three years in a row that is pretty incredible for our program, I’m super excited to be a part of it for all three."
The Boise Brave finished the regular season with a 19-1 record with their only loss coming against Lake City, they raised a record setting $10,707 for the American Cancer Society in their annual Pink Zone Game and their star player is going to USC next year.
However, with all the success the Brave has had over the past few years one thing that has eluded them is the state championship. Last year they fell in the semi-finals to Coeur d'Alene in double overtime after Teagan Colvin hit a game tying three at the end of regulation.
"This has really been a joyful group to coach," said coach Kim Brydges. "This is my 19th year as head coach of Boise High School and I get excited about planning practice every single day, coming up with different ideas about different things we can do and they just rise to the challenge with whatever we throw at them."
In the district championship Boise held Rocky to 31 points on 33 percent shooting. The Brave has had a more balanced attack compared to last year and they have shown good teamwork.
"I think that is really hard to guard and it is hard to have to go against is a versatile team where everybody is scoring and defending," said Howell as Boise outscored Rocky 13-4 coming out of the half. "Our third quarter was huge, we came out and kind of punched them in the face."
The state tournament starts on Thursday. At this point we are still waiting for the brackets to get filled out, but the Treasure Valley will host all the classes with the championship games on Saturday. Click here for the brackets, tickets and more information.
