Kellogg girls top American Falls, advance to title game

BOISE – The Kellogg Wildcats girls basketball team is in unfamiliar territory after posting a 43-36 win over American Falls in a State 3A semifinal matchup on Friday at Bishop Kelly High School.

It’s been 15 years since the Wildcats (16-10) walked onto the gym floor in a state tournament, and this year they can accomplish something no other Kellogg girls squad has done – win the whole thing.

The Wildcats trailed for the first 24 minutes against American Falls (21-5) before claiming their first lead on a Jordan Budd putback at the end of the third quarter. They never looked back. Kellogg held on for the victory, burying 10 of 13 free throws down the stretch, propelling it into today’s championship against Shelley at 2:50 p.m. (PST) at the Idaho Center in Nampa.

“This is huge,” Kellogg’s Marissa Bush said of the win. “It’s like a Cinderella story. Especially since so many people doubt the small schools.”

Bush single-handedly kept the Wildcats in the game early, scoring all eight of Kellogg’s first-quarter points.

“I think we were down,” Bush said of their first-half performance. “I think we were a little scared. We just had to bring ourselves up.”

Budd grabbed a board 2:05 into the second quarter and scored on a putback to finally get another Wildcat in the scorebook, but she was the only Wildcat to score in the second quarter, contributing three, as Kellogg went to the locker room down 18-11.

“I think we came out with a little bit of the jitters,” Kellogg coach Steve Bourgard said. “Bush stepped up to keep it close.”

It didn’t help that 6-foot-1 freshman Amanda Seeling spent the final 10:36 of the half on the bench in foul trouble. But Seeling made up for lost time in the second half.

The post tallied 16 second-half points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field and 6 of 7 from the line, and grabbed nine boards in the game.

“I really felt that was the difference in the game,” American Falls coach Doug Good said of Seeling. “She is a talented player.”

The Wildcats scored the first seven points of the second half to knot the game at 18 on a Katie Dumont jumper, a Steph Cantrall 3-pointer, and a Seeling putback.

Heather Anderson broke the drought for the Beavers with a putback at the 4:24 mark, and then pushed the lead back to four with a jumper in the middle of the paint.

Seeling evened the score for the fourth time of the game at 22 before Budd gave the Wildcats their first lead at the third-quarter buzzer.

Kellogg then scored eight straight to push its lead to 31-24. Then the free-throw rally began. Seeling knocked down two, followed by a couple from Cantrall to make it 35-27 at the 1:23 mark.

Chelsea Fehringer buried a 10-footer with 1:01 to play to end a 7:34 field-goal drought and pull the Beavers within 37-30.

American Falls managed to pull with 40-36 on a pair of Shannelle Phillips free throws with 16 seconds left, but that was as close as they would get.

“These girls have played in a lot of pressure games,” Bourgard said. “They are seasoned and I think that makes a big difference.”

Seeling paced the Wildcats with her 16 points, while Budd scored 10.

American Falls was led by Anderson’s 24 points.

Now only Shelley stands between Kellogg and its first title.

“It would mean a lot,” Seeling said. “It’s going to be fun.”

Priest River 48, South Fremont 42

Lacy Hopkins scored 17 points on 6-of-21 shooting and pulled down nine rebounds as the Spartans stayed alive despite shooting just 29 percent from the floor.

Tabitha Clark had 13 points, 11 rebounds and four steals, and Jessica Willig added 10 points and 10 rebounds for PR (14-10), which will face Gooding in today’s consolation game.

Britta Bartschi led the Cougars with 18 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks.