Ridgeline girls basketball. Photo by Robert K. Scott.
MILLVILLE — Winning back-to-back state championships is often enough to put a satisfying close to a high school career and _ seniors on Ridgeline’s 4A Girls Basketball title-winning squad would be able to look back fondly on such a career. Their legacy, spanning four seasons, is an 89-12 record, three Region 11 titles, three straight appearances in the championship round and the aforementioned two straight gold-colored trophies.
But these Riverhawks aren’t done yet.
On March 28, Ridgeline will embark on its second out-of-state tournament of the year, and much like the last it’ll result in playing the toughest competition possible. The Riverhawks were invited to participate in “The Throne” tournament. It’s an eight-team field comprising some of the best high school basketball teams in the entire U.S.
“We’re excited for the opportunity we get to take these girls out there,” Ridgeline head coach Ainsli Jenks said in an interview on the Full Court Press. “We’ve never been there, we just are excited to to be able to go play. I think it’s a fantastic way for these five seniors go out for their high school careers.”
Five of the eight teams are ranked inside the MaxPreps Top 25 teams in the country — Grayson (No. 5), Bishop McNamara (No. 7), Morris Catholic (No. 8), Hebron Christian (No. 10), and Desoto (22nd). The Riverhawks have already brushed up against one of the teams in the field, Desoto. The two teams squared off on Dec. 8 with Desoto winning 47-34.
Ridgeline is the No. 1 team in the state of Utah according to Prep Girls Hoops and No. 2 according to MaxPreps (coming in behind Lone Peak, a team the Riverhawks beat in LP’s own gym earlier this year.
“We’ve kind of been on the bubble of those MaxPreps rankings most of the season, so it’s pretty exciting for us to be able to have an invite,” Jenks said.
The first-round opponent for the Riverhawks will be Morris Catholic, which went 28-1, the lone loss being to Long Island Lutheran, the No. 2 ranked team in the country by MaxPreps. Driving Morris Catholic’s dominance is a set of twins, Mia and Mya Pauldo. Both are ranked inside ESPN’s Top 100 ranking for the class of 2025, Mia coming in at No. 7 and Mya at 46th. Mia leads the team with 19.7 points, 6.2 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 3.3 steals per game while Mya adds averages of 14.7 points, 4.6 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 3.1 steals herself.
It’ll create a thrilling matchup with Ridgeline’s own star guard duo of Emilee Skinner and Elise Livingston. Skinner, recently named the Cache Valley Media Group Region 11 Player of the Year (and Defensive Player of the Year) along with being named a Naismith Girls High School Basketball Honorable Mention All-American, is a force in and of herself (and also ranked 10th in the same Class of 2025 ESPN Top 100 rankings the Pauldo twins are in). Skinner averaged 24.0 points, 7.7 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 3.5 steals and 1.7 blocks this year in the Riverhawks’ title run.
“Emilee is just such a generational player who not only plays well on the court and can do things on both ends, but she also involves her teammates,” Jenks said. “I tell people all the time, if you haven’t seen her play it’s worth a trip to Ridgeline to watch this girl play. She’s very special.”
Livingston had her own dominant moments, averaging a career-best 14.7 points in her senior year to go with 1.8 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.8 steals. She’ll be playing at Utah Valley University this upcoming season.
