Malad storms back with 16-point fourth-quarter run but eventually drops 3A championship to Parma

NAMPA — Malad came into Saturday’s 3A State Championship game at the Ford Idaho Center riding a 24-game winning streak.

The Dragons had not lost since they began their season with a defeat at the hands of Bear Lake on Nov. 15. Part of that winning streak was a 56-40 victory over Parma — their opponent Saturday.

Through 24 minutes of play, it seemed Malad had no chance of extending that winning streak to 25. The Panthers couldn’t miss, shooting nearly 60% for the game to build a 50-34 advantage.

But Brynnlee Jones and the Dragons undid all Parma’s work in just four minutes. With 16 unanswered points to begin the fourth — 14 coming from Jones — Malad erased the entirety of the Panthers’ lead.

Despite briefly grabbing a lead of their own, Malad could not lock down the monster comeback and saw a chance to win in the closing seconds bounce out of their grasp.

Parma, instead, claimed its first ever State Championship with a 58-53 victory.

After the game, head coach Trevor Jones called the game a rollercoaster of emotions before taking the blame for the hole his team found itself in.

“They did their best to get out of it, and they did,” he said. “They fought back and gave us a chance. You can’t fault their effort or their attitude, their never-quit mentality. That’s the definition of Malad basketball.”

Malad had two shots at either going ahead or tying the game.

First, with 20.3 second remaining and trailing by one, the Dragons attacked the paint but lost possession of the ball out of bounds.

Then, following an intentional foul and two made free throws, Malad was behind by three with 8.1 seconds on the clock. Point guard Izzy Haycock evaded the press defense and got the ball into the paint. But her 2-point shot clanged off the iron.

Asked after the game if the plan was to get two points and hope for a takeaway, Trevor said the play he drew up was for Haycock to attack, then dish the ball out to a hopefully open shooter.

“They covered it really well,” he said. “We’ve run that trailer play a few times, they did a good job of adjusting.”

Haycock, he said, responded to the defense and went toward contact with her shot hunting for an and-1. She got none and collapsed to the floor.

But Haycock and the entire Malad squad had every reason to stand proud following their comeback.

They were facing a Parma team that shot 64% from the field in the first half, and didn’t slow down in the third. The Panthers carried a 50-34 lead into the fourth while several Dragons were forced to play through foul trouble on the comeback hunt.

Brynnlee, who’d had an off-shooting night, turned it on from all spots on the court.

She hit a 3 to start the quarter, and quickly followed with a pair of free throws. Then she hit another 3. Kyley Miller contributed a deuce of her own.

Parma head coach Michael Calkins called for time, looking to stunt to run. But Brynlee got a steal before hitting another triple. She capped the comeback with a three the old fashioned way, finishing inside through contact and converting the and-1 at the free throw line.

Brynnlee finished with a game-high 24 points.

Parma finally stopped the run there. But Malad followed with a Haycock triple to grab their first lead since starting ahead 2-0.

“We just all had a fire in us. We knew we had to go get it,” Brynnlee said.

“I’m so proud of them — hitting those big shots, being able to battle back,” Trevor added.

He said that his team had put together similar runs on multiple occasions this season, so he was waiting for the run.

“These girls do that all the time, that’s why we didn’t doubt. We had belief in that chance. … We know they can do it,” he said. “It’s so hard to be in attack mode, comeback mode, then all of a sudden it’s — one shot and it’s switched, you change. … That effort and that energy they bring, that’s all you can really ask for at the end of the day.”

After the game, Trevor and Brynnlee shared a long embrace in the tunnel near the locker room.

“It’s a little extra-tough when it’s your daughter,” he said. “But that’s the thing with this team, they’re all like daughters (to the coaches).”

The loss is difficult, no doubt. But it comes at the end of perhaps the best season in the history of Malad girls basketball. And it comes to a group consisting primarily of juniors.

The most “devastating” part, Trevor said, is that the team will be losing the energy and leadership of Teagan Daniels, its lone senior. The “exciting part,” he added, is knowing that the rest of the squad will be back to make another run at it next year.

“The one thing I’ll promise you is, they’re going to have new determination to come back even better next year,” Trevor said. “They’re going to be hungry for next year.”