2009 GIRLS STATE BASKETBALL AWARDS
By Gary Jones and Glenn Jones
5A Coeur D’Alene Vikings (25-0)
The defending champs won again on a 3 pointer by Whitney Heleker with 1.7 seconds left on the clock in overtime to complete an undefeated season. This was the Vikings 7th title tying them with Prairie and Grangeville for the most titles by a school in any division. It was Dale Poffenroth’s second title. Centennial was also undefeated going into this game. A truly spectacular game with a fantastic finish…at least for the Viking fans. Check this stat out from the Viking’s year: they played 14 of 20 regular season games on the road!! Maybe that’s why they felt at home in the Idaho Center.
Runner-up: Centennial Patriots
3rd Place: Boise Braves
Consolation: Lake City Timberwolves
Sportsmanship: Madison Bobcats (their 3rd award)
Academic: Boise Braves 3.726 GPA
4A Bonneville Bees (24-2)
This was Bonneville’s second title in Girls Basketball and the first for Coach Ryan Harrigfeld. They won as a 4A school in 2005 under Coach Traci Peterson, who I believe is now the Madison Coach. Middleton was the defending champ and got back into the title game despite graduating all 5 starters from last year’s team.
Runner-up: Middleton Vikings
3rd Place: Jerome Tigers
Consolation: Nampa Bulldogs
Sportsmanship: Jerome Tigers (Won last year; 4th overall)
Academic: Rigby Trojans GPA 3.854
3A Sugar-Salem Diggers (26-0)
The Diggers completed an undefeated season by winning their second title under Coach Todd Jensen. They won their first in 2007 under Jensen. Their 23 point victory was the largest margin of all 6 title games.
Runner-up: Wendell Trojans
3rd Place: Snake River Panthers
Consolation: Fruitland Grizzlies
Sportsmanship: Fruitland Grizzlies (Their 3rd award)
Academic: Kimberly Bulldogs GPA 3.967
2A West Jefferson Panthers (18-8)
Despite having more losses than any other 2A school, the Panthers beat 3 higher ranked opponents to win their 2nd championship. They upset an undefeated Soda Springs team in the semi-final to reach the title game. Their other title came in 1999 under Coach Larry Niederer. They held Valley to only 25 pts in the title game, which was the best defensive effort in any of the 6 championship games.
Runner-up: Valley Vikings
3rd Place: Soda Springs Cardinals
Consolation: Parma Panthers
Sportsmanship: Melba Mustangs (First award)
Academic: North Fremont Huskies GPA 3.812
1A Div 1 Lapwai Wildcats (22-3)
The Wildcats ran their way to their 5th team title and the third under Coach Shawn Spencer, who lead them to the championship in 1998 and 2002. If you like to watch teams that love to run up and down the floor, the Wildcats do it as well as anyone. Lapwai also won their school’s first title in 1976 under Ferris Paisano, which was the first year for state titles in girl’s basketball. Back them there were only two divisions for all schools and the Wildcats won Class B.
Runner-up: Clearwater Valley Rams
3rd Place: Challis Vikings
Consolation: Kendrick Tigers
Sportsmanship: Kendrick Tigers (2nd award: won last year)
Academic: Raft River Trojans GPA 3.811
1A Div 2 Richfield Tigers (25-0)
They joined Coeur D’Alene and Sugar Salem as the third team in 2009 that went undefeated and competed a perfect season. It was their 3rd title in their history and the second for Coach Steve Kent. Their first title came way back in 1979 under Coach James Thomas.
Runner-up: Dietrich Blue Devils
3rd Place: Carey Panthers
Consolation: Garden Valley Wolverines
Sportsmanship: Carey Panthers (First Time)
Academic: Camas County Mushers GPA 3.722
The Idahosports.com Players of the State Championship Games:
5A: Kama Griffitts (Senior, Coeur D’Alene)
Jade McNorton (Senior, Centennial)
If you watched this game, it was the perfect example of the game where it’s a shame someone has to lose. That’s why we went with a player from each team.
Griffitts played varsity all 4 years and played in the State Championship Game all 4 of her years. Try topping that. She was the type of player that could take over a game shooting the ball 30 times or more, but she doesn’t want to do that. She is a complete player that gets her teammates involved by giving them the ball. She fed Rosenthal quite often and the sophomore responding with a great tourney. She’s the one that fed the ball to Heleker for her last second, heroic shot. Kama had 22 pts, 13 rebounds, 5 assists, and a blocked shot in the title game. She is headed to Snow College next year.
Jade McNorton really stepped up for her last game as a Patriot. She was dominant in the post, and her late free throws, which she calmly sank, sent the game into overtime. She finished with 17 pts, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 blocked shots, and a steal in the title game. She is headed to Pepperdine for next season.
4A: Mailie Garner (Junior, Bonneville)
Mailie (pronounced My-lee) is only a junior and will return next year for her senior season. In fact, the Bees team had only one senior, Bryndy Anderson. So you media voters take note: rank the Bees #1 going into next season. Garner had a terrific title game scoring 21 of her team’s 43 points. She also shot 18 free throws, making 11. In addition to that, she pulled down 5 rebounds, had 3 assists, and grabbed one steal.
3A: Sofia Hepworth (Junior, Sugar Salem)
What is a Hepworth? In this case, it was worth a championship ring from Jostens’, the ring company. Sophia is a junior and has one year remaining in her Digger uniform. In the title game, she was everywhere the ball was. She finished with 22 pts. She was 8/16 on 2 pointers and 2/2 on three’s. She also had 6 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal.
2A: Oakley Burtenshaw (Senior, West Jefferson)
Tiffany McDonald (Sophomore, West Jefferson)
West Jeff was the most improbable state champ considering the fact they had 8 losses going into the tourney and Soda Springs had none. They were a very well balanced team and picking an MVP from them was difficult. That’s why we decided on a Co-MVP. Oakley has a cool name and had a great title game. She finished with 9 pts, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, and a steal. Her teammate, Tiffany, was a ball hawk. She finished with only 4 pts, but an impressive number of steals- 7. She also had 6 rebounds and 1 assist.
1A Div 1: Chelsey Leighton (Senior, Lapwai)
This was the hardest team to pick an MVP from. They were a very balanced team that was led by many players. We wanted to narrow it down, and in the end we picked Chelsey. She led her team with 10 pts and had 4 rebounds. To show you how balanced they were, Katherine Samuels, Bethany Kirkie, and Latisha Phillips had 8 pts. Sierra Higheagle had 7 points. The MVP could have been any of these girls or all of them. Team Lapwai was truly a team.
1A Div 2: Teenie Kent (Junior, Richfield)
Her name may be small, but she was huge in this game. After appearing in our “coolest names of the tournament” in 2008, she is now our 1A Div 2 MVP. The girl was awesome in our opening championship game on Saturday. She scored 23 points on 8/17 shots from 2 pt land and 4/10 shots on three’s. She also had 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, and had no turnovers and no fouls. Statistically, she was the best player in any division. And she’ll be back next year along with all but two of their players, Michelle Kent and Lea Piper. Look for good things from the Tigers next year.
The Idahosports.com All State Tournament Team (5A Only)
One requirement we have- we will pick at least one player from each of the 8 teams at state for this all state team.
First Team
Jade McNorton, senior; Centennial
Devyn Christensen, senior; Vallivue
Katie Baker, senior; Lake City
Carli Rosenthal, sophomore; Coeur D’Alene
Kimberly Smith, senior; Boise
Second Team
Heather Adams, senior; Centennial
Breanne Van Every, senior; Highland
Lauren Lenhardt, senior; Eagle
Kaylee Manner, junior, Madison
Katelin Shannon, senior, Vallivue
MVP
Kama Griffitts, senior; Coeur D’Alene
A complete all around player. She can shoot, play “D”, pass, rebound, and make sure her teammates are all involved in the game. You get the feeling watching her that she could shoot 40 times a game and light it up each night, but she’d rather be a team player. She played in 4 straight championship games, winning back to back titles her junior and senior year. She scored 1,293 points in her career as a Viking, a new school record. She broke the old record of 1,160 points by 133 points. I think that record will last for awhile.
The Idahosports.com All State Championship Game Team (4A thru 1A Div 2)
Once again, we wanted one representative from each team in the title game. We only see these teams on Saturday in the title game, so that’s what we are judging it on.
First Team
Teenie Kent, junior; Richfield
Jesse Dill, senior; Dietrich
Oakley Burtenshaw; senior West Jefferson
Sofia Hepworth, junior; Sugar-Salem
Mailie Garner, junior; Bonneville
Second team
Chelsey Leighton, senior; Lapwai
Alexis Pickering, senior; Clearwater Valley
Katie Hall, senior; Valley
Jaci Lancaster, senior; Wendell
Erica Hancock, senior, Middleton
The Idahosports.com “Coolest Names” of the Tournament
Being named “Jones” tends to make you notice unusual names and wish you had it instead. So here are the coolest names we could find on the program.
First Team
Remington Ward, West Jefferson
Sierra Higheagle, Lapwai
Steeli Norton, Highland
Brin Neff, Madison
Teenie Kent, Richfield
Second Team
Dakota Kidder, Kamiah
Gabi Nava, Valley
Denali Manning, Raft River
Morgan Jo Wolff, Kendrick
Acey Shaw (Coach- Dietrich)
Honorable Mention
Marlee Redfox, North Freemont
Tanae Smuin, West Jefferson
Whitney Dance, Snake River
Kimber Choffin, Sugar Salem
Oakley Burtenshaw, West Jefferson
The Idahosports.com Mascots of the Tournament
At Idahosports, we just love the mascots. The problem this year in girls was that there weren’t very many of them. So a message to the schools that make it to state: DRESS UP A MASCOT!!!! Since we found only two, we did not want to choose between them. So we have two winners in 2009:
Boise Braves: Two ladies dress up in Indian gear complete with an awesome head dress that nearly reached to the floor. They stood in front of their pep section to help cheer on their lady braves, and for this we salute you. The two girls were: Laura Hampikian and Grace Relf. Congrats, ladies!!
Lapwai Wildcats: Becky Blackeagle sweated it out in what must have been a very hot uniform to wear. But she did a tremendous job cheering on the Wildcats fans as they helped their girls win the state title. Becky even got in the front of the parent section and fired them up, as well. Way to go, Becky! You were terrific!