STATE 3A GIRLS BASKETBALL: New names, but same stopping point ... Young Timberlake team ambushes Teton, advances to third state title game in four years

By JASON ELLIOTT

Sports writer

NAMPA – Malia Miller remembers being a kid, sitting on the bench watching as the Timberlake team manager as the Tigers claimed their first state 3A title in program history in 2016.

“I was freaking out because I’d never had the chance to experience that myself,” Miller said. “It was always the goal to get to that game.”

Goal accomplished.

Miller scored 16 of her game-high 22 points in the second half as the second-seeded Tigers rolled past the sixth-seeded Teton Timberwolves 60-39 in the state 3A semifinals at Skyview High on Friday.

“The kids looked more comfortable on the court, and we were locked in defensively the entire game,” said Timberlake coach Matt Miller, in his 18th season at the school. “That’s the first time with this young group that we’ve been mentally checked in for the entire game on the defensive end.”

Timberlake led 19-10 at halftime, limiting the Timberwolves to only two second-quarter points.

“I thought our defense was great,” Matt Miller said. “The thing that impressed me was that we didn’t finish well and shoot well only having 19 points. But it didn’t affect the defensive side. Sometimes we’ll play really good defense when shots are going in, but we did a good job of playing defense, even when we didn’t have that energy from scoring.”

Timberlake (22-2) advances to the state title game for the third time in four years, winning titles in 2020 and 2021.

The Tigers will face Snake River (22-3), which held off defending champion Sugar-Salem 38-36 in the late semifinal. Snake River, which lost 42-32 to Timberlake in the 2020 title game, is the top seed in the tournament.

The Tigers did not qualify for state last year.

Teton (18-10) faces Sugar-Salem (16-7) in the third-place game today at Skyview High.

“I think it feels different with this group being so young and so new,” Matt Miller said. “Just not making it last year, I think, hopefully we’re not done. But it’s a big accomplishment when you look at our size and our lineup and youth. For them to show up and play like they played, it’s impressive.”

Senior Ciara Soumas, a reserve on the 2021 team, had 13 points and five assists for Timberlake.

“Everyone was really locked in today and grinding for that win,” Soumas said. “It’s great because no matter how many mistakes we made, everyone was onto the next play. And we didn’t let it get us down. We had to try to avoid dwelling on what went wrong and get going again.”

Miller, daughter of the head coach shot 9 of 14, including 5 of 8 from the 3-point line.

“Hyping up my teammates is what really gets me going,” Miller said. “Being a family is the most important thing for me. It’s definitely special to be in this situation.”

In Thursday’s state opener, Miller got into early foul trouble in the first quarter.

“I definitely learned a lot from yesterday (a 61-39 win over Filer),” said Malia Miller, who picked up two early fouls before bouncing back to finish with 17 points. “We need to play defense as well as we did tonight and we should be fine.”

Abi Barkduall scored 10 points for Teton.

Teton 8 2 11 18 – 39

Timberlake 12 7 17 24 – 60

TETON – Tibbits 0, Kunz 3, Johnson 4, Barkdull 10, Hogan 2, Richardson 0, Wood 9, Hansen 5, Zogg 0, Bagley 6. Totals 16-57 6-10 39.

TIMBERLAKE – C. Soumas 13, Dickinson 2, Young 6, Nelson 2, MacArthur 8, Simpson 4, S. Soumas 0, Needs 0, Miller 22, Techau 0, Chase 3. Totals 22-50 4-9 60.