A week that couldn’t have started any worse for Soda Springs ended on a spectacular high for the Cardinals.

    Down 13 at half, Soda forced 18 turnovers to rally all the way back and upend the Salmon Savages 50-46 Saturday afternoon at Highland High School.

    Soda Springs (15-11), a program that graduated nine seniors from last year’s roster, advances to the 2A State Tournament for the fourth straight season and will take on New Plymouth at Capital High School Thursday at 6:15 p.m.

    “For these guys to step up and get back there, (in) kind of on a rebuilding year, is really big for us,” said Cardinal head coach Greg Bergholm.

    Twice this past week, first Monday in Soda Springs and Tuesday in Dayton, the Cardinals had opportunities to win the 2A Fifth District Championship. But West Side won both meetings, forcing Soda to fight for its bid through the back door.

    Thursday in American Falls, the Cardinals beat fourth-ranked Valley by 16 and that set the matchup against No. 3 Salmon, who had lost to Firth in the Sixth District title game.

    So four games in six days for the Cardinals and the Savages were in their third.

    Sometimes the best respite for tired legs is to see a few shots go down — especially the long-distance variety — and that’s exactly what happened for the Savages.

    Salmon (15-11) had five 3-pointers in the first half and Jedd Tibbitts scored 13 of his game-high 16 points.

    The threes put the Savages up early and in the second quarter Salmon’s offense did everything it could to shorten the game by stalling. The Savages would hold the ball at half court, wait for the Cardinals to extend their defense and then attack over the top.

    The strategy worked. Not only did Salmon have its best scoring quarter of the game with 17, but it put Soda Springs in a funk, too. The Cardinals kept watching Savage players bang home deep 3-pointers or cut to the basket for a back-door layup.

    A four-point lead swelled to 13 by half.

    “We don’t really play against teams that stall,” said Derek Spain, one of two Soda seniors. “Teams in our district like to push it and push it. ... It was different playing against them.”

    Starting in the second quarter, in an attempt to speed up the pace, Soda Springs started to press full court. Salmon, however, responded and methodically worked the ball down court.

    That changed after halftime.

    The Savages had five turnovers following the first two quarters. They more than doubled that total in the third. Once Salmon could no longer handle Soda’s intense full-court defense, the Cardinals took advantage with their superior athleticism in the open court.

    “Whoever controls the tempo wins and that was our goal, to get that tempo going,” Bergholm said.

    Soda held Salmon to two field goals in the third but still trailed 34-27. Luckily for the Cardinals, Landon Hayes showed up.

    Hayes, a junior, scored 11 of his 13 points in the final frame and Soda completely overwhelmed Salmon 23-12.

    “We knew if we can (came) back from 13 ... anything is possible,” said Hunter Goodenough, who finished with 11.

    With a 1:15 left, Salmon’s Jayden Infanger dialed up a deep 3-pointer that put the Savages up 46-45. But those were the last points Salmon scored.

    Soda’s Hunter Belnap made a free throw, Spain had a steal that led to a Riley Yamauchi layup and Hayes capped off the game with a breakaway layin to seal the win.

    “We play a brutal, I feel, preseason,” Bergholm said. “Our record’s not always the greatest, but we learn from it. It gets us ready for the end of the year.”

Soda Springs 50, Salmon 46

Salmon    12    17    5    12 — 46

Soda Springs    8    8    11    23 — 50

Salmon — Jedd Tibbitts 16, Derek Dahle 6, Jayden Infanger 8, Jacob Shivley 6, Jeff Bennett 2, Derek Smith 8; Soda Springs — Landon Hayes 13, Hunter Belnap 9, Hunter Goodenough 11, Landry Schvaneveldt, Derek Spain 6, Helaman Finlayson 2, Ty Allen 2, Riley Yamauchi 2.