PLAYERS TO WATCH:
Aly Hansen, Buhl
Pemberley Kimball, Buhl
Tanli LeMoyne, Filer
Brook Parker, Filer
Emma Day, Gooding
Camryn Rycraft, Gooding
Taya Plew, Kimberly
Brooklyn VerWey, Kimberly
Taylor Heitzman, Wood River
Tobie Stilling, Wood River
Written by: Sven Alskog
Last season, Kimberly ran through the 4A Sawtooth Central Idaho Conference with a perfect 8-0 mark in league play.
This year, the Lady Dawgs are once again the unanimous pick of the coaches in the conference to come out on top with a strong nucleus in place to help fill some key losses.
Gooding also represented the league at state, with the five-team conference set up to be competitive once again entering the 2025-26 campaign.
KIMBERLY
Leading scorer Taya Plew returns for her junior season after taking home SCIC Player of the Year accolades as a sophomore while averaging 16.2 points per game.
Plew is joined in the backcourt by returners Brooklyn VerWey, Emma Chavez and Shelby Heider, with Ady Osborne back in the interior.
Entering his fourth season, head coach Scott Plew listed junior guard Tylee Chadwick and sophomore guard Avery Beard as incoming impact players.
“We have more scoring threats than we’ve ever had as a team,” added Coach Plew. “We can score at all three levels and will be looking to score in transition, spread the floor, attack the basket and hit the outside shot.”
Limiting turnovers and improving their shooting percentage are a couple of offensive areas identified for improvement from a season ago.
Defensively, the focus is to take away what the opposition wants to do with varied looks to keep the offense guessing. Having length and speed to cover the floor will help.
“The majority of this team has been playing together since they were very young,” added Coach Plew. “They continue to mature, and they get along very well. They know each other’s strengths and weaknesses and can play to the strengths and help minimize the weaknesses.”
GOODING
Fresh off the first state tournament appearance for the program since 2006, Gooding is hungry for more.
The Senators face the challenge of replacing All-Conference performer Fallon Millican, who tallied 11.6 points and 9.6 boards per contest as a senior. Without the size of last year’s team, the Senators will need to be aggressive on both sides of the floor.
“We lost Fallon, and she was the anchor on the offensive side of the ball,” said head coach Derrick Lyons. “A lot of what we did ran through her. Fortunately, we are returning four starters that are familiar with what we want to do and the motor that we run with. We will continue to keep that up-tempo style.”
Starters Amaia Dayley, Camryn Rycraft, Emma Day and Olivia Rogers are all back. Rycraft contributed 10.9 points per game and led the team with 2.7 assists and 2.6 steals per contest in her freshman season. Day is the lone senior of the group.
“We’re going to be small, and we’ll be a pressure-based team because of that,” said Lyons. “Some of our younger girls will be thrown into roles early to see where they fit. Camryn had 70-plus deflections last season and Olivia will be expected to own the block, which she showed that ability last season. Our help side responsibility will be vital with a lot of that responsibility falling on Emma and Amaia.”
A couple of new faces to look for include sophomore Kodi Garza and freshman Scottie Martin.
On the offensive side of the floor, the coaching staff is emphasizing free throws, limiting turnovers and continuing to improve shot selection. Defensively, limiting dribble penetration, staying out of foul trouble and keeping the opponent off the offensive glass are keys.
“This team is young but somewhat experienced,” said Lyons. “They had a good summer and are hungry for success. All the girls have come back with more confidence, which should help them along the long basketball season.”
FILER
Filer went 11-12 overall last year and 5-3 in the SCIC to tie for second with Gooding in league action.
Second Team All-Conference talent Tanli LeMoyne is back for her senior campaign and will be one of the team leaders from the guard spot.
Coaches around the conference also noted Brook Parker as a key contributor for the Wildcats.
Minimal roster turnover should keep Filer competitive toward the top of the standings once again.
BUHL
Under the direction of first-year head coach DuWayne Kimball, there is some intrigue to see what the Lady Indians will look like this season. There’s an added level of mystery around the team due to most of the varsity level minutes having departed.
In total, six seniors have moved on, including Conference Defensive Player of the Year Liesl Kimball and Honorable Mention All-Conference piece Quincy Bowman.
From the guard line, junior Aly Hansen and sophomore Pemberley Kimball are back though, with senior wing Codee Cooper a new impact player to watch.
“The team is young,” said Coach Kimball. “The potential of the team will likely be decided by how some of the new varsity girls step up.”
Offensively, the new coaching staff is working with the players on finishing near the ream and dealing with pressure.
Keeping opponents out of transition will be critical for a team that showed plenty of potential defensively last year.
“Team was in general a pretty good defensive team last year,” added Coach Kimball. “The games that were not close were when the other teams turned their defense into offense. Just the basics of stay in front of man, help, contest shots and rebound.”
WOOD RIVER
Junior guard Tobie Stilling missed last season with a knee injury, and her return will only elevate the output from senior post Taylor Heitzman and the rest of the Wolverines.
In Stilling’s absence, Heitzman led the way for Wood River, earning a spot as Second Team All-Conference. Now, with both on the floor at the same time, the inside-out tandem will force help to come from defenses and open up the floor for some of the shooters on the roster.
Senior guard Mylie Smith is another piece to watch offensively after she handled the bulk of the point guard duties as a junior.
“We are a motion-based offense, and we’ll be best when Heitzman, Stilling, and Smith are taking most of our shots,” said head coach Kevin Stilling. “We preach all the time to constantly turn down good shots for great shots, and we need to buy into that to be successful this season. We like to think of ourselves as opportunistic with our transition game; we’ll push when we can and we’ll slow it down if you’re more athletic than us.”
Coach Stilling also noted that Wood River has not had a double-digit scorer for the past five years in the program, but Heitzman, Stilling and Smith all have the potential to reach that threshold.
Adena Garrison, Daisy Lopez and Melanie Gallardo all return as well, with freshman guard Kensie Terra ready to fill a role.
“We have a group of girls who are unselfish and want to help each other to learn and improve as much as they want to get better themselves,” said Coach Stilling. “That’s a huge piece of our teaching culture — our better payers teach our young girls as much as the coaches do.”
Health and team cohesion will be huge for a group that has plenty of potential, according to their head coach. Taking care of the basketball, choosing good shots and forcing turnovers to open up the floor in transition are all areas highlighted for improvement.
“Control the controllables, focus on getting better every darn day and give your best effort regardless of circumstances,” said Coach Stilling. “We do those three things, then we can walk out of a locker room with our chins up and shoulders back and feel proud.”