NAMPA — The first grin came from Abby Gilbert, Snake River’s versatile guard who knocked down two free throws to push the Panthers to the precipice of the promised land. She smiled as she jogged back on defense, her team now up double digits on Timberlake in Saturday’s 3A state championship game, the crown seconds away from returning to Snake River for the first time in a decade.

Moments later, Gilbert subbed out of the game, as did the other Panthers on the floor: Rylie Edlefsen, who canned three straight triples in the third to hand her team an 11-point cushion, part of her 19-point outing. Reese Baldwin, who registered two points, eight rebounds and three assists. Taylee Carlson, who used her length to post 11 points and five rebounds. Camdyn Dunn, the quick point guard who logged five points and five boards.

Snake River coach Jeff Steadman had never been more excited to get reserves in the game, not in the final seconds of his team’s 49-36 win over Timberlake to win a 3A state title. The players who had keyed this operation all season had done their jobs. Now it was time to let the buzzer sound, to let the players jump and scream and laugh, to let the moment wash over them like a wave from a hot tub at the perfect temperature.

Check out Steadman’s reaction and you might only have guessed the Panthers won a regular-season game, not a state title. He shared high-fives with his assistants and flashed an easy smile. “I'm not an overly emotional person,” Steadman said. “I don't express a lot of emotion.”

His nonchalance belied his feelings, his understanding of what this means for Snake River and everyone involved with the operation.

“Snake River always brings it,” Steadman said. “I think it's great for the community.”

It’s a lot of things for the community, most of which showed up at the Idaho Center, where they watched their 23-3 Panthers deliver a title doing the things they did all season: After Edlefsen finished her scoring binge, Timberlake drew back within four, so Snake River cranked up its defense and widened its lead. Carlson and Baldwin weaponized their length to punish the White Tigers underneath. Edlefsen took defenders off the dribble for drives and step-back triples, like the one she drilled to take a 39-32 lead inside of five minutes to play.

From there, the Panthers cruised. They made 8 of 12 free throws, including four straight in crunch time from Carlson and Gilbert, Snake River’s final salvos in a battle they held control of nearly the entire way.

“It’s really exciting,” Carlson said. “We worked for this all season. We talked about winning state, and it was always like a possibility, but now that it's true, it's like, wow.”

“It’s kinda hard to believe,” Edlefsen added with a laugh. “We’re super excited about it. We worked hard. It was a tough game. Timberlake’s a great team. But we were able to get that dub, play some great defense.”

That receipt came in the numbers. All told, Timberlake shot just 29% from the floor. The White Tigers misfired on all 12 of their triple tries. Their leading scorer was Malia Miller, who posted 15 points — but she needed 22 shots to get there. All season, Snake River produced sterling rim protection thanks to players like Baldwin, Carlson and forward Jackie Steadman. They showed it in bushels on Saturday.

Snake River liked its defense, but the Panthers benefited most when they capitalized on offense. Edlefsen became the beneficiary. In the second frame, she canned one long ball from straight away. Then one on the wing. Then one in the corner, which rattled in, out, around… then through the net, her ninth straight point, her reminder to the rest of the state that she is here.

“I knew that it was going to help our team if we were able to get on a little bit of a run,” Edlefsen said. “In halftime, I was visualizing the shots that I've made in games, in the gym by myself, and I knew my teammates do a great job of getting me the ball when I'm open and they always have their eyes up. You just have that confidence, you put in the reps that it's gonna go in.”

She might not have put in as many if not for the way last season went. That Snake River season ended in a state semifinal loss to Teton. In that game, Edlefsen scored seven points on eight shots, an uncharacteristically low total. “I was in a dark place,” Edlefsen said last month, talking about that game. “I made a goal sophomore year to make it to the state championship game, and we fell short of that.”

So the Panthers followed with a season already etched in program lore. They opened with wins in eight of their first nine games. All year, they fell to just two Idaho teams. They dethroned the defending champions in Sugar-Salem — once in the regular season, once in Friday’s state semifinals.

“I think if we would have beat Teton last year in the semifinals, it wouldn't have driven us as much as a team,” Edlefsen said. “That kinda put a little itch in us because it still hurt a little bit, and we wanted to work hard so that we could get to the Idaho Center.”

The Panthers didn’t just get to the Idaho Center. They left the place smiling.