The buildup to the 1A-II girls basketball championship gamewas all about Dietrich and history.

It seemed almost forgotten that Richfield beat Dietrich forthe district championship 10 days prior. Nobody could forget after Saturdaymorning, though, as the Tigers dethroned four-time champion Dietrich 48-41 towin the 2015 1A-II Girls Real Dairy Shootout.

April Wood scored a game-high 16 points and Taylor Kingadded 13 for Richfield, which took the lead on a 12-0 run in the second quarterand never gave it back.

“Our goal when we first started the season was just to getto state … it doesn’t seem real,” said Wood.   

Mighty Dietrich was going for its fifth straight title,something never accomplished in Idaho by a boys OR girls basketball team, butinstead Richfield left the Ford Idaho Center with its fifth state championshipin program history.

Since the 1A-II division was created seven years ago,Dietrich and Richfield have combined to win all seven champions – three forRichfield and the four straight for Dietrich.

This one, though, was all Tigers. They shackled Dietrich inthe middle quarters, outscoring the Blue Devils 25-9 and holding them to twoseparate scoring skids of more than 5 minutes.

In the third quarter it was 11-2 and Mariah Lezamiz heldDietrich’s Jacey Shaw off the scoreboard altogether. Shaw had 15 points to leadDietrich, but one of her quieter games.

“Defense is my thing and we know Jacey is a great player,”Lezamiz said. “She’s going to get points; you just try to hold her to as littleas possible.”

For a fleeting moment it looked like the magical run mightcontinue for the Blue Devils.

Dietrich got the game to within three in the final minutebut Richfield weathered that storm, held its nerve and hit foul shots down thestretch and suffocated Dietrich’s hurried offense to close it out.

“It was a little scary but we knew what we had to do,” Woodsaid.

Richfield has no seniors and played the state tournamentwith just six players – the Tigers lost two starters to knee injuries prior tostate.

Dietrich, which was playing in the title game for the sixthtime in seven seasons, graduates two seniors: Shaw and Addie Robertson.

Box score: http://www.idhsaa.org/sports/stats/1415/gbb/1AD2/1AD2girlsgame11.html

Idaho Sports Playerof the Game: April Wood, Richfield.