NAMPA – A fraction of an inch separated the Bonneville High School girls basketball team from back-to-back state titles and a 40-game winning streak.
Bonneville senior Kylee Searle had a clean look at a potential game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer Saturday at the Idaho Center. But the shot clipped the front of the rim and rolled out, preserving a 44-42 Middleton win.
The loss snaps a 39-game winning streak for Bonneville and is its first since Jan. 6, 2009.
Searle’s 3-pointer wasn’t the play Bonneville coach Ryan Harrigfeld drew up in a timeout between a pair of Middleton’s Madeline Laan’s missed free throws. But when Searle rebounded the second missed shot and got the ball back on the wing, Harrigfeld said he couldn’t have asked for a better look.
“The play was, if she missed the second one, to set a couple picks for Katie (Harker) and have Katie go all the way to the basket,” Harrigfeld said. “She got stopped, and then Kylee was wide open on the wing and I thought it was going down. I really did. It’s just a matter of inches, and that’s all you can ask.”
Middleton took control of the game that featured three lead changes and five ties in the first half when it started the third quarter on an 11-0 run and stretched its lead to nine.
Bonneville rallied to tie the game with 40 seconds left, but the lead proved to be too much to overcome.
The tight finish was a fitting end to a rematch that’s been predicted since the final buzzer of last season. Both team’s returned four of five starters from last year’s title game and while Bonneville entered the season undefeated, Middleton entered with just one loss.
“Bonneville beat us (last year), they come in 23-0 and it’s like the bogeyman hanging over our head for 365 days,” Middleton coach Andy Jones said. “If Jerome would have won (over Bonneville in the semifinal), it would have been great. But it would not have been the same as getting Bonneville. I did mean it when I said to be the best, you have to beat the best. And they’ve been the best team in the state for two years.”
The win is the second title in three seasons for Middleton (25-1) and it has played in the title game each of the past three years.
Senior forward Mailie Garner led Bonneville (25-1) with 13 points and seven rebounds despite playing on a torn ligament in her ankle. While she didn’t end her career with another state title, Harrigfeld, who has coached Garner for three years, said her career has been a special one.
“I love that kid,” Harrigfeld said. “That’s all I can say. She’s a special player and I’ll never forget the opportunity I had to coach her. She has a lot of heart.”
But Garner is just one of a loaded senior class. Harker scored nine points with three assists, Susan Lindley added eight points, Makayla Keck hit both of the 3-pointers she attempted for six points and Searle scored four points to go with five rebounds, three assists and three steals. Kelsey Smith and Desa Tolman round out a class that has won a second-place trophy and a first-place trophy in both basketball and volleyball in the past two years.
“You can’t put their whole career on just this one game,” Harrigfeld said. “What they’ve accomplished is amazing, and it’s all them. They’re a special group of kids whether they won this game or not.”
