jhancock@journalnet.com

NAMPA - Kendrick brought too many offensive weapons for Sho-Ban to handle Saturday morning at Columbia High School in Nampa and took down the Chiefs, 74-52, in the 1A Division I consolation championship game.

If the Tigers' guards were unable to hit the ample open looks they had, then their 6-foot-2 post Myriah Deeds, who towered above the Chiefs, was wiping the boards clean, giving her teammates several second chances and putting a few back in the hole herself.

Deeds had a double-double in Saturday's game, including 21 points and 22 rebounds.

"We have a good basketball team but a lot of our struggles have been individualism," said Sho-Ban coach Everett Moore. "If we ever bonded, we could have been playing later this afternoon."

Saturdays Sho-Ban game tipped off at 9:15 a.m., the time set aside for the 1A Division I consolation championship game. The later start Moore is contemplating is the one reserved for the state championship game.

Sho-Ban struggled offensively to start the game and quickly found itself down by six, but by the end of the first quarter, the Chiefs had closed the gap to 14-10. In the second quarter, noticing her teammates were struggling, Chiefs senior guard Samantha Bear tried to shoulder the burden.

"I was trying to come for my team," Bear said. "I know we all wanted it, but we weren't playing our game."

It nearly worked, too. Bear moved her robust physique across the floor with all the grace of a ballet dancer, hitting shots from almost anywhere she chose. She put up 14 of Sho-Ban's 16 points scored during the second quarter. She finished the game with 21 points.

But it just wasn't enough.

By the time Bear went on her mission in the second quarter, Sho-Ban was already down 23-10 with less than four minutes left in the half. The Chiefs were scoreless during the second quarter for the first 4:17 while Kendrick was on a 9-0 run.

Bear's scoring spree and some well-played defense pulled Sho-Ban back into the game, down 31-26 at halftime.

The second half, however, was all Kendrick. Bear's offensive gusher slowed to a trickle, and the defensive stops Sho-Ban was getting during the latter part of the second quarter were more sparse.

By the fourth quarter, Sho-Ban's energy was spent, and Kendrick put up 24 points, its biggest offensive quarter of the game.

While Sho-Ban was able to remain close to Kendrick for much of the first half, Bear admitted the Tigers offensive pace was too much for the Chiefs.

"I think if we had a little more speed and a little height," she said, "we would have had a better chance."