Girls’ Basketball Whip-Around: Teton set for another crack at Sugar-Salem; Salmon eliminated

EASTERN IDAHO — The Teton Timberwolves played Sugar-Salem as close as anyone else in the state this season, when they fell at home against the Diggers by five points in December.

Now, the Timberwolves will get another crack at the undefeated reigning champs on Friday, after beating South Fremont.

In the 3A Nuclear Conference district tournament, Salmon was the first District 5-6 team to be eliminated from the playoffs, falling to West Jefferson in a truncated schedule of girls’ basketball tournament action Wednesday.

4A

The Timberwolves (14-8, 1-3), the Mountain Rivers Conference’s No. 2 seed, took down South Fremont (5-16, 1-3), 61-43, at Teton High School.

Teton moves into Friday’s semifinal matchup with Sugar-Salem (21-0, 4-0), a team the Timberwolves lost to twice during the regular season. The first of those matchups, however, was the closest game the Diggers have played against a 4A opponent all season — 62-57 at Teton on Dec. 12.

For comparison, Sugar-Salem’s average margin of victory this season is 23.67, fifth-highest in the state — Rigby (25) and Mackay (24.05) are two of the teams with a larger average margin of victory.

Friday’s winner will advance into the championship round, while the loser will host South Fremont next Tuesday.

3A

No. 5 Salmon (4-15, 0-8) became the first local team eliminated, losing 39-28 to No. 4 West Jefferson (4-19, 2-6) at South Fremont High School. Salmon had already suffered a loss to No. 1 Firth on Monday.

The Panthers move on to face No. 3 North Fremont (13-10, 4-4) Saturday in a loser-out game.

The two teams have faced off three times this season, with the Huskies coming out victorious each time, including a 60-37 win in the first round of the 3A Nuclear Conference district tournament. North Fremont’s wins have come by a combined 75 points.

North Fremont fell into the losers’ bracket with a 46-33 loss to No. 2 Ririe (14-8, 6-2) on Wednesday. Ririe will get another crack at top-seeded Firth (19-3, 8-0), who already owns a pair of tightly contested wins over them, at Thunder Ridge on Saturday.

The winner of the Firth-Ririe showdown will advance into the championship round, while the loser will face the winner of North Fremont-West Jefferson for the right to get there.

2A

No. 1 Butte County (16-5, 1-1) cruised past No. 2 Grace (16-7, 1-1), 60-26, to move into the 2A District 5-6 championship round.

The Grizzlies will face No. 3 Alturas Prep (0-14, 0-0), with the winner joining the Pirates in the championship game — or games.

Games in the 6A, 5A and 1A brackets pick back up Thursday.