With points coming at a premium, Marsh Valley found itself down early.
The lid on the basked remained firmly in place throughout the contest and the Eagles watched helplessly as Teton pulled away.
The Eagles, facing the Redskins with a bid to the 3A state tournament on the line, never led as they fell 51-36 Saturday afternoon at Century High School.
“Even when we did get the ball down, we couldn’t hit our shots,” said Marsh Valley head coach Kyle McQuivey. “Our long shots weren’t dropping for us. We just couldn’t find our rhythm or get things going, and (Teton) did find its rhythm.
“It was a bad time to have a bad shooting night. They come around, it was just unfortunate today was one of them.”
Teton flexed its defensive muscles early, poking away passes and anticipating every Marsh Valley move.
The Eagles trailed 9-3 after the first quarter, but fought back to get within three points a number of times.
The Redskins’ aggressive defense wreaked havoc on Marsh Valley’s offensive plan, and the Eagles were slow to adjust.
“We tried to get our girls to try and move back door on them,” McQuivey said. “They were just planting their feet because when they saw an ‘A’ spot they had to get there. They didn’t see a ‘B’ spot.
“We tried to change things up and we tried to feed our bigs to keep them sucked in. When we hit a couple of shots outside, they started spreading out and we wouldn’t go back inside.”
The halftime margin was 22-19, the closest Marsh Valley would get the rest of the way. Teton continued to hit its shots — and free throws — while the Eagles got colder from the field.
Nika Criddle scored nine points for Marsh Valley while Faith Lolofie and McKenzie Gunter had seven apiece.
Teton had three scorers in double figures, led by Brooke Rammell’s 18 points. Shelby Kincaid had 13 and Heather Smith pitched in 11.
Marsh Valley finishes the season with a record of 12-12. Most of the players — and the head coach — plan to visit Boise during next week’s state tournament to cheer on district mate Snake River.
“You always cheer for your district team so you can show you were the toughest district out there,” McQuivey said. “Most of us will be going up there.”
The Eagles are also looking ahead to next season when a team with more experience will take the floor.
“We have a lot of young kids coming up,” McQuivey said. “All of these kids, there is only one of them that has played in a state tournament before. All the rest of them have never been in that situation because we had so many seniors last year.
“Now we have some girls with experience. They know what to work on and how to get ready for next season.”
Teton 51, Marsh Valley 36
Teton 9 13 17 12 — 51
Marsh Valley 3 16 8 9 — 36
Teton — Jenna Abbott 3 0-2 6, Cassidy Elquist 1 0-0 2, Taylor Arnold 0 1-2 1, Shelby Kincaid 3 7-10 13, Brooke Rammell 4 10-13 18, Heather Smith 3 2-4 11.
Marsh Valley — Maycee Belnap 1 0-0 2, Jacinta May 1 2-4 4, Paige Vorwaller 1 0-1 2, McKenzie Gunter 2 2-2 7, Nika Criddle 2 5-6 9, Katie Anderson 1 0-0 2, Lindsay Nichols 1 0-0 2, Faith Lolofie 3 1-2 7.