Ririe digs itself into a hole it can’t escape, falls to Grangeville in the State Championships

BOISE — Grangeville’s defensive approach against Ririe was clear — keep high-scoring Brinley Taylor in check.

In the battle of Bulldogs, Grangeville set their own bulldog, Caryss Barger, loose on Taylor, who came into the game averaging more than 13.5 points per game. The gameplan worked, though Taylor and her teammates made things interesting in the fourth quarter.

Despite a 23-point outburst in the final period, Ririe fell, 51-43, at Bishop Kelly High School to open their 3A Girls Basketball State Championships.

Ririe head coach Jake Landon admitted that Grangeville effectively keeping the ball out of Taylor’s hands hurt what his team was trying to do offensively.

“We’ve seen it before this year, but we did a much worse job of handling it tonight than we have in the past,” he said. “They did face-guard Brinley to not let her have it. Brinley’s a great shooter, a great scorer so it makes sense, but when they do that, it should open up some other things that our offense can take advantage of. We just didn’t execute well enough to do it.”

Grangeville seemed at times to be employing the box-and-1 defense NBA teams have taken to using against two-time MVP Stephen Curry, with a primary defender focusing entirely on one player — Taylor, in this case — and the other four defender playing a 2-2 zone.

Grangeville’s Caryss Barger completely disregards the ball as she defends Ririe’s Brinley Taylor during the second half of Thursday’s game. | Kalama Hines, EastIdahoNews.com

The problems for Ririe went well beyond how Taylor was being defender though, according to Landon. They began when his team came into the game lacking the energy Grangeville opened with.

Landon said his team was “fortunate” to be tied, 9-9, after a first quarter that saw both teams make three 3-pointers.

But Ririe did not take advantage of that fortune, instead suffering several mistakes to fall behind in the second quarter.

“We let the game get ahead of us a little bit. In the second half, we played hard and battled back. We played the way we should have been playing the entire game,” Landon said. “The hole was too deep. We dug ourself too deep a hole early in the game and that made it more difficult to get back.”

Ririe made a run in the fourth, cutting what had been a 17-point deficit to begin the final period into single-digits. But it wasn’t just the massive hole they started the quarter in, it was also the hot shooting from Grangeville that made things difficult.

Twice, Ririe went on scoring runs — one time scoring eight straight, and the other scoring six straight — and both times the rally was halted by a Grangeville triple. Grangeville finished the night shooting 9-of-20 (45%) from distance — with three difference players draining multiple from range.

“I’m proud that the girls didn’t give up,” Landon said. “It would have been easy to just let them run away with it when we were down. The girls fought, and we did, kind of, creep back in there, we just came up a little bit short.”

Now, Ririe’s focus shift to the fifth-place race. They have a chance to finish the season with a playoff win, which, as Landon pointed out, is something only three teams in each division will do.

They will face North Fremont Friday. Grangeville will face Malad, who beat North Fremonth Thursday.