Rigby stays undefeated with dominant road win over conference rival Highland

POCATELLO — The Rigby Trojans never trailed the Highland Rams Tuesday night, staying perfect on the season with an impressive conference road win.

Rigby (17-0, 6-0) led 6-0 less than three minutes into the game, and never relinquished that lead, battling through several second-half surges from the Rams (8-8, 2-3) to earn a 53-38 win.

Head coach Todd Barber suggested that his focus was drawn to some of the letdowns that led to Highland’s runs, but said he was pleased with the overall outcome.

“I thought we did some good things,” he told EastIdahoSports.com after the game.
“Obviously, there are some things we’ve got to clean up, but overall I’m happy with their effort.”

Senior center Lauren Burnside said that one of the things Rigby focuses on is bringing energy out of the locker room for a hot start. She did that nearly singlehandedly Tuesday, recording three rebounds, a steal and six points in the first two-plus minutes of the game.

As a team, she added, the Trojans often start that way, with one player or another benefitting statistically from that. Tuesday, she was the when who reaped the rewards.

“She stepped up big tonight,” Barber said of Burnside’s play. “It was just, kind of, her night. She does that in other games too, but tonight she really just put more effort into it.”

Burnside finished with a double-double, 10 points and 10 rebounds, to go with four steals and one block.

Rigby’s hot starts have, at times, been undone by lackluster play, according to Burnside, who said that is a problem her team will have to remedy.

“Sometimes, we can get into a little slump. But the good thing about our team is, we always come back in the end and finish strong,” she told EastIdahoSports.com.

Led by freshman Mylee Stucki and junior Peyton Pieper, the Rams, who trailed 20-9 after one quarter and 33-18 at the half, put together several runs.

They scored 10 straight — seven from Pieper — to start the third and open the fourth, cutting the deficit to 12. But Rigby’s leading scorer, Kinzley Larsen, put an end to that run. And Highland never cut the lead to fewer than 14 the rest of the night.

Larsen, who saw more bench time in the first half than usual, having picked up some early foul trouble, scored just three points in the first two quarters. She finished with just nine, meaning Burnside’s outburst was needed.

“We’ve got lots of players on this team, and any given night it could be anybody. Tonight, it happened to be Lauren, a great player,” Barber said.

“Rebounding has always been my big thing, and the offense just, kind of, came with it,” Burnside added.

She was not alone, however, with junior Allie Danise scoring a game-high 12 points.

Stucki finished with another solid all-around performance, scoring a team-high 11 points to go with six rebounds, five steals and four blocks. Pieper chipped in with 10 points, nine of which came in the second half.

After fending off the second-half challenge from the Rams, Rigby remained perfect on the season, matching their win total (17) from last season, when they lost in the state consolation game.

Larsen, Burnside and this class of Rigby seniors have appeared in three straight state tournaments, bringing home a consolation trophy in 2023.

During that stretch, though, the Trojans have never gone this deep into their season without suffering a loss.

Asked what has allowed this group to keep to its winning ways, Barber said, simply, that it comes down to the way the girls play with effort and commitment.

“It’s the girls,” he said. They’re athletes, they’re ball-players, they’re competitive. They love to play and play well with each other.”

Burnside had a bit of a different take on answering the same question, saying that the coaches do a great job of pushing the players, demanding the most from them and coaching that level of play out of them.

“We are always pushing, every day, getting better every day,” she said. “That’s what is keeping us going, is just not settling and keeping resilient.”

The Trojans will return home Thursday, hosting Canyon Ridge (3-11, 0-5). A win would bring a third consecutive conference title to Rigby.

Highland will be on the road facing Century (1-15, 0-2) Thursday, looking to end a slide during which the Rams have lost seven of eight — after starting 7-1.