‘This is it. This is our time.’ Bishop Kelly girls down Ridgevue for 4A SIC crown
At 5 feet, 4 inches tall, cousins Keira Lizama and Jordyn Carnell are not the most imposing players when they step on the basketball court.
But the Bishop Kelly High senior guards spearhead a formidable full-court defense that leads the 4A Southern Idaho Conference, limiting opponents to 36.6 points per game.
With the 4A SIC regular-season title hanging in the balance, the Knights used that full-court press to outlast Ridgevue 47-42 on Wednesday at Bishop Kelly High. BK earns the No. 1 seed in the 4A District Three Tournament, which begins with first-round games Saturday. The top two teams advance to state.
“I’ve been playing with Jordyn practically every day for my entire life,” Lizama said. “Everyone knows that we’re scrappy, and when we play together we just play even harder for each other. It’s always just so much fun, and I’m really sad it’s our last year, but I just love playing with her. We always know where each other is. We always pick each other up. It’s really great.”
Heading into Wednesday’s game, Bishop Kelly and Ridgevue were tied atop the 4A SIC standings with identical 10-1 league records. The Warhawks won the first meeting between the two teams 52-47 on Jan. 5 in Nampa, holding the Knights to an 0-for-17 performance from 3-point range and 27% shooting from the floor.
“Well, to be honest, we’ve been talking about it basically since we lost,” Lizama said. “When we lost to them, our shots weren’t falling and we let it get to our head. Before this game we decided to tell ourselves, even if we do miss a couple shots, the game’s not over.”
Relying on its full-court press, Bishop Kelly held Ridgevue without a field goal in the first quarter, and the Knights extended their lead to 22-13 at halftime. The Warhawks remained at arm’s length through much of the third quarter until senior Jacotah Thomas sank a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to five, 33-28, heading into the final frame.
Bishop Kelly pushed its lead back to double digits, 46-36, with 2:10 to go, but Ridgevue junior point guard Myra Martinez kept the Knights on their toes with a pair of 3-pointers down the stretch.
“I think that loss to Ridgevue was our wakeup call,” Bishop Kelly senior Addy Laible said. “If we want to be No. 1, coach was telling us we’ve got to get going. This is it. This is our time.”
Laible led the Knights — who have won six in a row — with 16 points and nine rebounds. Lizama and Carnell scored seven points apiece, and junior Brooke Hutchinson added six points.
“I think we’re just having fun with these kids,” Bishop Kelly coach Derek McCormick said. “We’re pretty loose, sometimes almost too loose at practice, but I want the kids to have fun and want to be around each other. And I think that’s paid off for us in the long run. Hopefully we can just maintain that. Our goal is to go as far as we can, just like everybody.”
Wednesday’s loss ended a seven-game winning streak for the Warhawks (13-7, 10-2), who are enjoying their best season in program history. Ridgevue has never made it to the state tournament, but the Warhawks hope to check that off their list in the coming weeks. They’ve already surpassed the previous program record for total wins, which was eight.
