Champions will begin to be crowned in the Treasure Valley this week.
Girls Basketball District Tournaments will hold their championship games, the start of a month full of both district and state championship events.
The first tournament wraps up Tuesday when Melba and Cole Valley Christian play for the 2A District III championship at Ridgevue High. Melba (22-0) will look to enter next week’s 2A state tournament with an unbeaten record. Both the Mustangs and the Chargers have clinched state tournament berths, while Ambrose and Nampa Christian also play Tuesday for a spot in Saturday’s state play-in game.
Other classifications will have their district championship games on Thursday.
In downtown Boise, Idaho Central Arena will host a 4A and 5A doubleheader, with the 4A game taking place at 6 p.m. and the 5A game between Boise and Rocky Mountain taking place after.
Boise (20-2) will be looking to win its second straight District III title, while Rocky Mountain (16-7) will hope to pull off another upset of the Brave after coming away with a 45-42 win against Boise on Jan. 21. Both teams have already punched their state tournament tickets.
Elsewhere in 5A, two other teams will punch their state tickets today. Eagle faces Owyhee, while Timberline takes on Mountain View. The winners of both games, which will be played at Timberline High, will qualify for the state tournament, while the losers will play in state play-in games Thursday.
Six teams are still alive for the two state tournament bids from the 4A SIC, with semifinal games taking place Monday. The winner of Thursday’s district championship game will grab one of those bids, while the loser will play Saturday for the second.
The 3A District title game will also be played Thursday, with Parma hosting Weiser. Both teams will advance to the 3A state tournament, while Homedale, Fruitland, Payette and McCall-Donnelly are all still in the hunt for a spot in Saturday’s play-in game.
Liberty Charter and Greenleaf will play Thursday at Columbia High for the 1A Division I District title, with both teams clinching their state spots. Nouts, Rimrock, Wilder and Victory Charter are all in the hunt for a state play-in game bid.
While girls basketball wraps up its district tournaments, several boys basketball leagues wrap up their regular seasons this week. The 5A Southern Idaho Conference, 3A Snake River Valley Conference and 2A Western Idaho Conference all will have their standings finalized by Saturday.
In the 5A SIC, Mountain View needs to win one of its final two games to claim the league title. The Mavericks (16-3, 10-0 SIC) have a game at Eagle today and host Kuna on Thursday.
Homedale holds a one-game lead on the SRV standings, with games against Parma and Weiser, the bottom two teams in the standings, currently left on the schedule. A win against both and the Trojans (11-7, 7-1 SRV) will claim the title.
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Melba (18-0, 12-0 WIC) clinched its league title last week with wins against New Plymouth and Compass Charter.
In the 4A SIC, Columbia and Skyview are tied for first place in the league standings, with Bishop Kelly sitting a game behind them. The Knights (9-9, 7-2 SIC) have a chance to shake up the standings with games against both co-leaders this week, hosting Skyview (14-4, 8-1) today and Columbia (12-5, 8-1) on Friday.
If the Hawks and Wildcats can both beat Bishop Kelly and escape this week unscathed, they will face each other next Wednesday for the conference title.
LAST WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS
• Eagle’s Landon White set a school record and had the most points in a 5A SIC boys basketball game since at least 2008, scoring 43 in a 77-73 loss to Meridian on Wednesday. White also had 12 rebounds for the Mustangs.
• Homedale got a 62-58 win against Fruitland on Friday behind 25 points from Jaxon Dines.
• Jaydin Morin-Bishop scored 30 points for Payette in a 64-44 loss to Parma on Tuesday.
• Mountain View’s Demi Thompson kept Mountain View’s girls basketball team’s season alive, hitting a buzzer-beater from beyond half court to beat Kuna 29-27 in an elimination game Saturday. Thompson had 19 points for the Mavericks.
• Avery Howell had 22 points and 14 rebounds for Boise on Saturday as the Brave punched their ticket to state with a 54-47 win against Timberline. Avery Patricco added 15 points.
• Brielle Magnuson led Rocky Mountain with 22 points in its state clincher, a 62-46 win against Owyhee.
• Shae Olsen scored 28 points for Greenleaf in its 58-31 win against Victory Charter Thursday in the 1A Division I District III Tournament. Two days later, the Grizzlies beat Rimrock 37-32 to clinch their first state tournament bid since 2009.
• Sidney Jackson scored 23 points for Parma Saturday in a 54-26 win against McCall-Donnelly, sending the Panthers to state.
