Lesson learned

NAMPA — All those wins in the North Star League, 12 total in the regular season, and postseason.

Those losses, which came against larger schools like Lewiston, Clarkston and Ferris of Spokane in a tournament in Lewiston over the final week of December.

Genesis Prep remembered. And the Jaguars learned.

Junior post Bella Mureketate had 33 points, 10 rebounds and three steals as Genesis Prep held off the Tri-Valley Titans 60-47 in the opening round of the state 1A Division II tournament at Nampa High on Thursday afternoon.

“My teammates really did a great job of finding me and getting me the ball,” the 6-foot-4 Murekatete said. “There’s always nerves at the beginning of a game. It’s the state tournament, but we handled them well.”

Genesis Prep (14-9) will face Sho-Ban (19-6) in the first semifinal today at 12:15 p.m. PST at Nampa High. Tri-Valley (13-8), a combination of players from the Cambridge, Midvale and Indian Valley communities, will face Dietrich (17-7) in a loser-out game tonight.

“We talked before the game and said, ‘nerves happen’,” first-year Genesis Prep coach Brandon Haas said. “And being that teaches about Christ, and said when you’ve got a life in Christ, you’ve got nothing to worry about. And you can give everything to him and you can give everything to him, and he will give what is gifted to you. And they locked down to that again and matured and they went from a one-point lead to winning by 13. The maturity that they had as far as them just growing, it showed tonight.”

Genesis Prep took a 29-19 halftime lead before seeing it almost completely evaporate in the third quarter as Tri-Valley cut the deficit to 39-38 before the Jaguars closed the quarter on a 6-0 run.

Murekatete scored eight points in the final quarter. Rachel Schroeder had 19 points and seven assists for Genesis Prep, which finished third last year in its first trip to state.

“Bella turned it on, and Rachel did a great job of handling the pressure at the top of the floor,” Haas said. “When they can do that, they’re dangerous. I was really pleased with them. And the fact we had the other girls scoring some baskets, it opened the floor for them and they just were able to get some open shots.”

Grace Ertel scored 11 points for Tri-Valley, which finished 18 for 62 from the field.

Sho-Ban, the District 5-6 runner-up, beat District 4 champion Dietrich 50-39 in the first game on Thursday.

“It helps being able to see Sho-Ban and what they do,” Haas said. “They’re going to be like playing a Lakeside team. They run and don’t stop and keep shooting. But I think the nerves are out a little bit.”

Tri-Valley 7 12 19 8 — 46

Genesis Prep 18 11 16 15 — 60

TRI-VALLEY — G. Ertel 11, Vogel 8, Waller 3, Hollon 6, Wood 2, Jones 9, Gerlock 5, Z. Ertel 0, Gerlock 5, DeVries 0, Jones 0, L. Hansen 3 K. Hansen 0. Totals 18-62 7-15 45.

GENESIS PREP — Morrow 1, Schroeder 19, Greiner 0, iManzi 2, Scribner 5, Martinez 0, Kim 0, Martin 0, Murekatete 33. Totals 23-47 12-19 60.