Rigby holds off rival Madison to remain unbeaten in conference play, securing bragging rights for at least one game
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REXBURG – Rigby remained unbeaten in conference play, holding off rival Madison 46-43 in a key High Country girls basketball matchup Wednesday night.
The Trojans improved to 4-0 in conference, but coach Todd Barber said he wasn’t really focused on being in the driver’s seat after the first round of conference play, instead he was more concerned about how the team is playing heading down the stretch of the season.
“Tonight was a good battle, but I feel we still have a lot of things to work on,” Barber said. “To come into Madison and get a win is huge. We’ll take it.”
Of Rigby’s previous three conference wins, only a 52-45 win over Highland had been close. The Trojans had an early lead on Wednesday, but couldn’t shake Madison.
After a loss to Thunder Ridge, the Bobcats had been playing better, taking two of three games in the East Idaho Shootout tournament.
Wednesday’s game was in the balance in the fourth quarter, but Rigby started to pull away and took a 40-33 lead with 4:57 left, forcing a Madison timeout.
The reprieve worked as Maggie Anderson knocked down a 3-pointer and Mia Walsh converted a steal into a layup.
Rigby’s Kinzley Larsen responded with a 3-pointer of her own and it appeared the Trojans had held off the late charge. They also controlled the offensive boards in the final minutes, stifling any attempt by the Bobcats to chip away at the lead.
But Anderson came up clutch at the free-throw line in the final two minutes. Her two free throws with 31 seconds left pulled Madison within 43-41.
It was Larsen again stepping up for Rigby with a pair of free throws, but Walsh again attacked the basket with a driving layup to cut the lead to two.
Madison forced a turnover on Rigby’s inbounds play with eight seconds left, but was unable to get off a shot as the Trojans came up with a late steal to seal the game.
“Rigby out-executed us down the stretch,” Madison coach Luke Sutton said.
Walsh finished with 24 points and Larsen had 22 points for Rigby.
Madison (7-6, 1-2) gets a good nonconference road test Friday at Blackfoot before returning to conference play next week.
Rigby (8-6, 4-0) hosts Thunder Ridge on Friday. The Titans currently sit in second place in the conference.