MCCAMMON — The painted eagles on either side of the center line on Marsh Valley's basketball court - and the taxidermied one outside in the lobby, encased between gleaming rows of state championship trophies - are frozen in a rictus of attack — wings spread, talons outstretched, beak open, delivering what's sure to be the last blood-curdling screech an unlucky rabbit has ever heard.

All in all, not a bad analogue for Marsh's vicious full-court press. The Eagles aren't blessed with height this year, but they do have plenty of aggressive, speedy guards to put on the floor — Zoie Armstrong, Sophie Hadley, Maycee Lunt, Alexis Christensen and Hayley Bennett, all lightning-quick, good shooters and able to run for days.

So Marsh Valley coach Kyle McQuivey took his roster and molded it into a point guard's nightmare. The Eagles' 1-2-1-1 press is aggressive and always on the attack. The first player picks up the ballhandler and forces her to the sideline, where the second line of the press is waiting to trap. The two players in back hunt for bad passes, preying on panicked decisions as the weight of the 10-second clock bears down on the opposing guards.

"We don't have height, so we have to do other things to frustrate the teams that do have the height, keep them out of there," McQuivey said. "We don't want them to have the chance to score on us down low, so that's what we try to do with the press scenario."

On a night like Monday, when the lights are bright and the M.V. players are jetting around in their home whites in front of a packed-in, fired-up crowd, it can be a disorienting, almost impossible thing to play against. When just getting a couple dribbles down is an ordeal, thoughts of looking for the next pass, running a press break, staying calm can fly out the window.

Facing this bewildering puzzle on Monday, Snake River relied on a senior, one of the most decorated, experienced players in the area — and a freshman, facing the charged atmosphere of her first district tournament.

No problem. As the three other players in Snake's lineup rotated around them down the stretch, Josee Steadman and Rylie Edlefsen stayed in the game and stayed steady, refusing to break against Marsh Valley's pressure and helping the Panthers hold off the Eagles for a 59-47 win that forces a winner-take-all rematch for the 3A District 5 championship.

That game will be played Tuesday at Snake River.

In their 49-44 loss to the Eagles last Thursday, the Panthers played right into the hands of Marsh Valley's press — panicking, rushing, trying to do too much with the ball and turning it over way too many times in the process.

At practice the next day, Snake River ran press break — and just press break — for 90 minutes. It was the only way Panthers coach Jeff Steadman knew how to prep his players for what awaited them in a potential rematch against the Eagles.

"Hats off to Marsh Valley. They're aggressive, they're quick, and their pressure had gotten to us in previous games," Jeff Steadman said. "(After Thursday's game), we went back to practice and we set up a press break we've used for quite a while. We've been working on it, and I thought some of the stuff we've worked on showed up tonight."

Edlefsen, the precocious freshman, looked like a player far beyond her years. One of the marks of a good point guard is how they beat a press, and there was Edlefsen doing everything right — keeping the ball on a string, shielding it from defenders, refusing to rush into bad decisions.

Whenever she needed sure hands to pass to, there was Josee Steadman, four-year starter, almost certain four-time All-Area selection, and veteran of countless high-stakes district games.

"It's really nice to have another girl who can handle the ball and pass," Edlefsen said. "She's good at handling pressure."

When the Panthers did get the ball across halfcourt, there was no contest. Josee Steadman and Adia Goff, both taller than anyone on Marsh Valley's roster, feasted in the post. With the press beaten, there was no need for complexity — just throw the ball into the post, catch it over the heads of the contesting Marsh Valley players and lay it in.

Steadman finished with 20 points and Goff 14. Steadman's 13 in the third quarter — on a 3-pointer, two and-1s and two buckets inside — broke open the game for Snake River, turning a 23-22 halftime deficit into a 47-34 lead going to the fourth.

"With their height, it's tough to counteract," McQuivey said. "We play front- and back-side help. The girls played that well all season, but tonight they just weren't helping each other."

Marsh Valley stayed close, but with under two minutes left, Edlefsen broke the pressure again. With Lunt pushing up on her, she went right and just kept going to the basket. As the help came at the rim, she gathered the ball, swinging it in a quick half-circle from right to left, and pushed a shot up through contact.

"They were pressuring and they were all spread out, so I saw a lane and I took it," Edlefsen said. "I didn't think I was going to make it until after I saw it go in, but then I got really excited."

Even though she missed the and-1 free throw, that was as good as game over, pushing the Snake River lead back to double digits.

Edlefsen finished with nine points, all in the second half, for Snake River.

Armstrong had 13 for Marsh Valley.

SNAKE RIVER 59, MARSH VALLEY 47

Snake River 10 12 25 12 — 59

Marsh Valley 4 19 11 13 — 47

Snake River — Jo. Steadman 20, Goff 14, VanOrden 10, Edlefsen 9, Howell 2, Ja. Steadman 2, Dunn 2.

Marsh Valley — Armstrong 13, Christensen 12, Hadley 10, Bennett 8, Ab. Marshall 2, Lunt 2.