STATE 3A GIRLS SEMIFINAL: Depth does it again

MIDDLETON — Struggling early on, Timberlake got a 3-pointer by a Soumas to put some life into its offense.

It just wasn't the one you'd expect.

Sophomore Ciara Soumas’ triple near the end of the first quarter gave the Tigers the lead for good, and Timberlake went on to beat the Parma Panthers 40-30 in the state 3A semifinals at Middleton High to advance to the state championship game for the second straight year.

“She had a great game tonight,” Timberlake coach Matt Miller said. “Defensively, she always gives us a ton of energy and a ton of effort. She’s a scrappy little player. Offensively, she’s starting to get some confidence to shoot when she’s open. When she hit that shot, we were struggling and that really got us going. She had a couple of moments in districts and it made some teams play honest. She’s been doing it for a couple of weeks now.”

Senior guard Taryn Soumas, Ciara's older sister, had 14 points, five rebounds and three steals for Timberlake (22-2), which faces Sugar-Salem (24-1) at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa in the championship game at 1 p.m. PST.

Timberlake outscored Parma 18-7 in the second quarter to take a 25-16 halftime lead.

“The game was more physical than we were expecting,” Taryn Soumas said. “We had to adjust and play at their pace. When everyone contributes, it really increases our energy and confidence going into tomorrow. But we know it’s going to be a fight, and we’ve got to be ready for it.”

“We just started to move the ball a little bit better,” Miller said. “We were impatient most of the night, but started to move the ball a lot better. Finally we started getting some ball movement and player movement and it led to some baskets.”

Senior small forward Bernie Carhart scored all eight of Timberlake third quarter points to extend the advantage to 33-24.

“They kept telling me to wait for my opportunity and make it count,” Carhart said. “It just really shows how much work we’ve put in as a team to get a championship game again.”

Timberlake beat Sugar-Salem in an opening round game 46-40 in double overtime in 2020.

“There’s just more excitement and grit in this kind of a game,” Carhart said. “We’ve been preparing all year for this game again. I think it will be awesome to see if we can make this last four months pay off with our preparation for them.”

Timberlake shot 17 of 54, but forced 17 turnovers in the game.

“We talk about making reads,” Miller said. “We talk about making the easy play, and making the right decision, and we weren’t doing that right after the game. We had a lot of drives, but wouldn’t kick the ball. The shots were there, but we’d hold the ball too long and didn’t look like we knew what we were doing.”

Senior Brooke Jessen had 13 points and nine rebounds for Timberlake.

Sugar-Salem advanced to the championship game after beating Filer 40-36 in overtime in the first semifinal on Friday.

“Sugar-Salem is a good team,” Miller said. “They’re big and physical. We had an incredible game against them last year. It’s going to be one of those games where it’s going to be a good ticket to come watch.”

Grace Jackson had 16 points and nine rebounds for Parma (17-6), which faces Filer in the third-place game today.

“Timberlake is a phenomenal shooting team,” Parma coach Michael Calkins said. “They’re a tough matchup for any junior college, let alone a 3A high school basketball team.”

Parma defeated Timberlake in a 2019 semifinal game at state.

“We were trying to keep the ball out of Jessen and Soumas’ hands,” Calkins said. “They’re just such great players that they’re able to get their touches. We wanted someone else to beat us tonight, and they still had a great game.”

Timberlake 7 18 8 7 — 40

Parma 5 11 8 6 — 30

TIMBERLAKE — T. Soumas 14, Hammond 0, Kronenberg 0, C. Soumas 3, Carhart 8, Jessen 13, Jeffs 2. Totals 17-54 4-8 40.

PARMA — S. Jackson 7, Hancock 0, Johnson 3, G. Jackson 16, Kaiser 0, Harris 4. Totals 11-44 5-6 30.