New Plymouth heads to next round; if they win tonight, they head to championship game

The Pilgrims bested Valley, 44-28 during game 4 in the brackets. As such, they will play Melba, who beat Soda springs 42-27 in game 3.

New Plymouth and Melba will square off for game 8 at 7 p.m. tonight. If the Lady Pilgrims win tonight’s game, they will go on to play Game 13 against the winner of Game 7, which takes place at 5 p.m. between Bear Lake and Grangeville. The winner of game 13 will be the state Champion.

Games 9-13, the final three rounds championship games will be held Saturday morning at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa, which will enable each of those teams to bring up to 900 fans each, according to IHSAA.

In addition to limited spectators, attendees must wear masks at all venues to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 during the event, per Idaho High School Activities Association rules.

After beating out West Jefferson during a 2A state play-in game on Feb. 13, New Plymouth (16-6) moved to Game 4 of the championship rounds.

The team is the third-place finisher for District Three.

This is the second straight state tourney appearance for the Lady Pilgrims, with the team’s only state title being won in 2001.

The tournament for boys basketball teams is slated to run March 3-5.

The Pirates beat the Wolverines, 68-51, Wednesday, in a district tournament game held at Weiser. The Pirates will go on to play McCall-Donnelly on Feb. 20.

The teams have played each other twice this season, with Payette falling to McCall-Donnelly each time.