Players to Watch:
Maya Marshall, Century
Kennadi Ozburn, Century
Kenna Garza, Pocatello
Abby Lusk, Pocatello
Liv Marshall, Pocatello
Brytlee Harris, Preston
Dotty Keller, Preston
Written by: Brandon Baney
The Pocatello Thunder were agonizingly close to competing for their first girls’ basketball championship in school history last season.
In the state semifinals against Skyline, a fourth quarter lead slipped through their fingers, and a turnover with less than 15 seconds to play sealed the 51-48 victory for the Grizzlies.
Pocatello rebounded to defeat Lakeland in the third place game, 56-44. But make no mistake, this year’s Thunder want to bring home a different colored trophy in 2025: the blue trophy awarded to the state champion.
“This group of seniors has been incredible and it has been so fun to watch them grow and compete,” says sixth-year head coach Sunny Evans. “So to have them all together (one last time) with an opportunity to see success is really exciting.”
Led by five outstanding seniors, Pocatello welcomes back four of five starters, and six of the top eight players overall from last year’s team. Senior point guard Taylee Rogers sets the table, senior wing Liv Marshall provides tough two-way play, junior stretch-forward Abby Lusk (6-foot-1) brings shooting and rebounding, and senior center Kenna Garza (6-foot-3) lends size and physicality.
That quartet will be joined in the starting lineup by either Saige Hagler or Adrie Johnson. Both are seniors, and both bring different skill sets to the backcourt. Johnson is viewed as a second point guard, while Hagler is more of an off-the-ball shooting guard.
Needless to say, there’s a lot of potential with this year’s group. There’s also a lot of mouths to feed, but Evans isn’t concerned. “Our strength will be the team,” says Evans. “Our ability to share the ball and score form different spots and in different ways. Kenna and Abby are huge threats offensively, but the weapons around them will be just as important to what we do.”
Along those lines, a word that’s been used often at Pocatello practices this year is “sacrifice.” “At some point everyone involved with the program (players, coaches, parents, admin, etc.) will have to sacrifice something to keep pushing the team in a positive direction,” says Evans. “If we can all do that it will greatly impact our success in a positive way.”
Also posing a challenge in 2024-25 are Pocatello’s opponents in the South East Idaho Conference: Preston and Century.
The Indians return seven of their top eight players from a year ago. In fact, one of the only newcomers is head coach Ben Huesser. Huesser spent last season as the head coach at nearby West Side High School, and enters his second year as a varsity head coach at Preston, just seven miles down the road.
Seniors Brytlee Harris and Addie Romney, along with junior Tayla Wakley, will anchor the guard spots. Junior Dotty Keller is sharp-shooting wing, while senior Ella Marlow can play on the wing or inside the paint. And speaking of the paint, senior Ellie Nelson and junir Maycie Knapp are expected to play down low for Preston.
“We have a lot of experience and skilled players,” says Huesser. “We will be an athletic defense that puts pressure on teams.”
“I’m excited to build off of a great summer,” Huesser adds. “We were highly competitive and started to build some much-needed confidence.”
Century, meanwhile, will be led by second-year coach Meg Fleischmann. Five seniors graduated off of last year’s team, but junior post Maya Marshall earned All-Conference accolades a season ago as a sophomore. Junior wings Mia Chavez and Eliza Vincent have great potential, and senior point guard Kennadi Ozburn will be responsible for organizing a fairly new group of varsity players.
In an interesting twist, former Century head coach Chris Shuler (who won three championships with the Diamondbacks in 2015, 2016 and 2019) is now an assistant coach for Evans at Pocatello High. It adds another layer to what Thunder fans are hoping is a championship season.
“We all know the incredible opportunity in front of us this season,” says Evans. “I think we will embrace it but I am sure there will be times when those expectations from all around us will feel heavy, so we have to be able to manage those.”