Sleeping Dragons awaken to dash Grangeville’s state title game hopes

It was a dream start for the fourth-seeded Grangeville Bulldogs as they doubled up the No. 1 Malad Dragons on the scoreboard through the opening quarter and led by six at halftime in Idaho Class 3A girls basketball state tournament semifinal play at Boise’s Bishop Kelly High School on Friday.

The dream would fade in the second half, however. Malad rallied to top Grangeville 48-36, ending the Bulldogs’ title hopes and sending them to a third-place game today against Melba at 11 a.m. Pacific.

“We started out really well,” Grangeville coach Michelle Barger said. “Our defense was spectacular. We came out strong, hit shots when we needed to hit shots — then kind of came out the third quarter and went a little cold, got into a little bit of foul trouble. They hit big shots and we didn’t. It kind of comes down to free throws and hitting baskets.”

Dragonslayers thwarted

Coming in on the crest of a 23-game winning streak, the Dragons (24-1) could not produce much of their vaunted fire in the first half. Indeed, they were ice-cold, shooting 3-for-23 from the field including 0-for-4 from beyond the arc.

Meanwhile, the Bulldogs (18-7) had what would prove to be their strongest run of the game within the final three minutes of the opening quarter, stretching a 5-4 lead to 12-4 in a spurt kicked off by a pair of Adalei Lefebvre free throws. Lefebvre continued to factor in the next scoring possessions, sending a long pass to Addisyn Vanderwall for a fast-break layup turned into a traditional three-point play, then pulling down a rebound and sending the ball to Caryss Barger, who took it across the court and executed a give-and-go play with Madalyn Green ending in a drive-in hook shot.

From there on out, Grangeville settled back down, but led steadily — 12-6 through the first, 17-11 at intermission — before the Dragons finally roared to life midway through the third quarter. A run of three Malad 3-point goals on consecutive possessions dramatically changed the game, turning a 20-14 Bulldog lead into a 23-22 Dragon edge.

The Bulldogs had their chance to erase the deficit in the latter stages of the third when Malad fouls gave them the benefit of the bonus, but they missed five of the six free throws it afforded them and ended the frame down 27-23.

Grangeville did draw back within a point at 29-28 early in the fourth quarter off an Autumn Long 3-pointer and retained realistic prospects of catching up again as it trailed 35-30 at the halfway point of the frame. The closing minutes of play, however, found the Bulldogs frustratingly cold as they launched long passes and urgent-but-unsuccessful field goal attempts while the Dragons — at last consistently producing from the field and ultimately benefiting from a foul bonus on which they capitalized — pulled away.

Class acts

Some might have expected a high-scoring slugfest in this state semifinal featuring a pair of teams known as offensive powerhouses, but it was not to be. It was tied for the lowest-scoring performance of the season for the Bulldogs (17-7), who put up an identical total in a 36-35 win over Lakeland of Rathdrum on Jan. 2. They had amassed over 40 points in all of their other 22 outings, exceeding 50 in 16 of them. It was also Malad’s fourth-lowest-scoring game of the season.

Green was Grangeville’s only double-digit scorer, putting up 10 points off three field goals and a 4-for-6 effort from the foul line. The Bulldogs also enjoyed nine points from Vanderwall along with seven from Caryss Barger, who got in early foul trouble — registering three well before halftime — and ultimately fouled out late. The Dragons’ Izzy Haycock was the game’s overall high-scorer with 15 points.

Malad’s dramatic post-intermission improvement made its mark on the stat sheets as the Dragons shot 12-for-26 from the field in the second half, including an outstanding 5-for-7 from 3. Grangeville ended the night 10-for-34 overall and just 1-for-10 outside the arc. The Dragons had fewer free throw opportunities, but were more efficient at the line, going 13-for-18 (72.2%) to the Bulldogs’ 15-for-27 (55.6%).

A bright spot in Grangeville’s evening emerged when the Bulldogs learned they were selected to receive the tournament’s sportsmanship award, which will be presented tomorrow.

“Grangeville’s never gotten one, so we’re pretty proud of it,” Michelle Barger said. “They said our girls were really kind girls, and they were impressed by how we helped girls up off the floor. We had some Malad fans come up and say we were class acts, so that was a big highlight tonight.”

Last hurrah

Grangeville returns to the court today facing the No. 3 Melba Mustangs (18-6) in the third-place game at 11 a.m. Pacific back at Bishop Kelly.

“I’ve scouted them a little bit,” said Barger, who emphasized that the game will be special as the last time her six seniors play together. “We’ve played them over the years. Melba’s always good; they’re always competitive. They’ve got one girl we’re going to have to really contain, and we can go out and get a third-place trophy if we come to play.

“I told the girls tonight, ‘We’ve got to forget this one and come back out and win the third-place trophy.’”

GRANGEVILLE (18-7)

Caryss Barger 0 5-8 5, Siena Wagner 1 1-2 3, Autumn Long 3 0-0 7, Madalyn Green 3 4-6 10, Halle Told 0 0-0 0, Adalei LeFebvre 0 2-2 2, Addisyn Vanderwall 3 3-9 9. Totals 10 15-27 36.

MALAD (24-1)

Kiley Miller 2 3-4 7, Teagan Daniels 0 3-4 3, Brynnlee Jones 3 0-0 7, Izzy Haycock 4 5-6 15, Mikell Keetch 0 0-0 0, Paityn Ward 3 0-0 8, Scarlet Hawkes 0 0-0 0, Mady VanBebber 0 0-0 0, Olivia Nelson 3 2-2 8. Totals 15 13-18 48.

Grangeville 12 5 6 13—36

Malad 6 5 16 21—48

3-point goals — Long, Haycock 2, Ward 2, Jones