ASHTON – It may be hard to remember, but there was a time when the North Fremont boys basketball team was considered an underdog.

At Bonneville, Macy Larsen scored 30 points as the Hillcrest girls basketball team held off Bonneville 56-48 in a close 4A District 6 matchup.

A hush mushroomed over Skyline’s largest basketball crowd in some 10 months. Star guard Mattie Olson grimaced in pain, sitting under the Grizzlies’ basket, arms resting on her knees. Skyline nursed a seven-point lead over Blackfoot midway through the third quarter, but if this ankle injury w…

At Mackay, Trinity Seefried's free throws in the closing seconds of overtime lifted the Mackay girls basketball team to a 66-64 win over No. 1-ranked Rockland on Thursday night.

REXBURG -- The Madison boys basketball team secured a late stop and iced the game at the line for a 57-54 win Thursday night over Thunder Ridge.

North Fremont remained No. 1 in the weekly boys basketball media poll, earning nine first-place votes in 2A.

At Ashton, the North Fremont boys basketball team kept its unbeaten record intact with a 56-38 victory over Ririe.

Leaders with Bannock County and the Idaho High School Rodeo Association are ironing out details of a contract to host the state’s prestigious rodeo finals locally for up to three more years.

At Thunder Ridge, the Titans' boys basketball team capitalized on a balanced scoring effort and held off Bonneville for a fourth straight win.

If you aren’t paying attention to the Blackfoot girls, you might be missing out.

Madison senior Taden King was seemingly scoring at will in the first half of Tuesday's game against Idaho Falls.

Kashia Hale’s team was on the verge of taking another uncomfortably big lead. She felt confused, frustrated, awkward this Friday night. She had spent the last four years fortifying her Mackay girls basketball program, but for the Miners to open another 50-point lead, this time over Watersprings?

At Firth, Butte County's girls basketball team earned win No. 14 of the season with a victory over Firth.

At Pocatello, Dylan Seeley had the hot hand, knocking down 7 of 9 3-pointers on the way to 27 points and a team-high eight rebounds Friday night as the Idaho Falls boys basketball team downed Highland 51-47.

At Ashton, the state No. 1 North Fremont boys basketball team kept its record unblemished with a 44-24 win Thursday night over Firth.

Never had words of encouragement sounded so hollow. As Thursday’s first half came to an end, an anonymous Bonneville coach sung his team’s praises. “Great second quarter,” he called, his voice ringing throughout a gym of stunned fans.

North Fremont, which entered the week unbeaten, is the No. 1 2A team in the first boys basketball state media poll.

Sugar-Salem’s Mardee Fillmore signed at letter of intent to play college basketball at Utah State University Eastern earlier this week following in the footsteps of one of her former volleyball teammates.

At Rexburg, the Madison boys basketball team built a big lead during the middle of the game and ran away with a 64-43 win over rival Rigby.

The Watersprings Fab 5 has gotten a lot bigger.

At Rigby, in a matchup between two of the state's top-ranked 5A girls basketball teams, Rigby downed Thunder Ridge 65-60 Tuesday night to remain unbeaten in the District 5-6 conference.

Idaho’s girls basketball season has been underway for weeks now, but for the first time this year, the state media poll has been released.

At Ashton, the North Fremont boys basketball team cruised past Aberdeen Saturday and continued its spotless start to the season with a 62-44 win.

At Hillcrest, the Thunder Ridge girls basketball team rallied after a slow start Friday night, finishing with four players in double figures in a 57-45 win over Hillcrest.

At Thunder Ridge, the Thunder Ridge boys basketball team used a balanced scoring output to hold off Skyline 64-57 on Thursday.

At Highland, the Thunder Ridge girls basketball team continued its blistering start to the season with a 53-42 road win over Highland.

RIGBY — On one occasion, Naomi Nunez laid in an easy two. On another, Brooke Donnelly spun into the lane for an open floater. After that, Donnelly converted a layup and Nunez splashed a triple.

At Thunder Ridge, the Blackfoot boys basketball team secured a 53-43 win over Thunder Ridge thanks in large part to an impressive fourth quarter.

More spectators will be allowed into high school athletic events beginning this week following a new order by Governor Brad Little that seeks to permit athletics to “continue in a way that is productive and safe for all participants, while including spectators.”

At Salmon, 10 South Fremont boys basketball players got on the scoreboard, helping the Cougars secure a 71-55 win Saturday over Salmon.

The Thunder Ridge girls will win their first 5A state title in program history

At Bear Lake, North Fremont's boys basketball team ended the calendar year with a narrow, 43-41 win over the Bears.

The Doug Andrus Holiday Basketball tournament turned into a bit of a showcase for Thunder Ridge and its star senior Lloyer Driggs.

At Skyline, Lloyer Driggs canned a deep triple at the buzzer, helping the Thunder Ridge boys edge Lake City at the Doug Andrus Holiday Basketball Tournament.

Boys basketball

There's something perplexing about the way Mattie Olson has established herself as one of Eastern Idaho’s most lethal scorers. She has the numbers, the records, the games that make you scratch your head and wonder how anybody is supposed to defend her.

At Arco, the Butte County girls basketball team cruised past Oakley, earning a 43-18 win.

At Blackfoot, the Blackfoot girls basketball team steamrolled Idaho Falls 53-24 Saturday in a cover-to-cover blowout.

At Hillcrest, the Hillcrest boys basketball team fell behind by 13 points at the half, but stormed back with a 26-point third quarter to take control and down the Broncos 67-57.

At Skyline, Mattie Olson dropped a career-high 41 points as the Skyline girls basketball team topped Hillcrest, 73-53.

Sometimes, the pressure weighs on Sydnee Hunt. It’s a new thing. She feels pressure to play well, she says, to play how she knows how to play, to prove that she can replicate as a senior what she produced as a junior.

At Hillcrest, the Hillcrest boys basketball team pulled away in the third quarter as three players finished in double figures, led by Cooper Kesler's 18 points, to defeat Idaho Falls 71-55.

At Rexburg, the Madison boys basketball team secured its fourth straight win and dismantled Idaho Falls 69-25.

It’s been a tumultuous 2020 for area sports, but the year should end on a bright note with the new East Idaho Holiday Basketball boys basketball tournament.

At Blackfoot, the Blackfoot boys basketball team got over the .500 hump Saturday night with a 48-42 win over Idaho Falls.

Andy Trane watched intently as Hillcrest ran the set that had already worked so many times, the one his Bonneville team couldn’t quite solve. The play sprung open Hillcrest guard Macy Larsen for an open triple at the top of the arc.

At Rexburg, a big third quarter propelled the Thunder Ridge girls basketball team to at 62-40 win over Madison on Friday.

At Rigby, Thunder Ridge got 24 points from Lloyer Driggs, securing a 54-51 road win over the Trojans.

The history of rivalry games between Idaho Falls and Skyline took on a distinctly different tone on Thursday.

At Skyline, Mattie Olson poured in 34 points and connected on six 3-pointers to lead the Skyline girls basketball team to a 72-56 win over Bonneville Wednesday night in the conference opener.

Few parts of Wednesday’s Thunder Ridge and Rigby matchup lent themselves to sparkling offense. Turnovers plagued the Trojans and easy misses vexed the Titans. It smelled like COVID basketball, the kind that feels easy to chalk up to solid defense but is really explained by sloppy offense.

At Sugar City, in a matchup of defending boys basketball state champions, 2A North Fremont enjoyed a pair of 20-point scorers en route to a 65-64 double overtime victory over 3A Sugar-Salem.

At Rigby, the Rigby girls basketball team built a double-digit lead by half on the way to a 58-39 nonconference win over Blackfoot on Saturday.

At Skyline, four Grizzlies scored in double figures in 64-58, non-conference girls win over Century.