Post Falls Earns Regional Berth By Beating Cda Next Up: Trojans Travel To Top-Seeded Sandpoint Thursday

Forward Janelle Ruen was useless during Monday’s girls basketball practice at Post Falls High School.

The freshman was lying on the floor at Trojan Gym, ill with the flu.

“(Ruen) was so sick yesterday she couldn’t even practice, but when it comes game time, she’s a competitor,” Trojans coach Chris Johnson said. “She puts it aside and plays.”

Ruen’s 3-point field goal with 2:27 left in the third quarter of Tuesday’s A-1 Region I playoff game snuffed a brief Coeur d’Alene rally and helped key Post Falls’ 56-29 victory.

The win gives the Trojans (12-9) the fourth seed in the regional tournament. Post Falls travels to meet top-seeded Sandpoint (15-2) in a first-round tournament game on Thursday.

Third-seeded Lewiston (10-8) visits No. 2 Lake City (11-7) in Coeur d’Alene that same night. Both games start at 7.

“That was a very big shot,” Trojans coach Chris Johnson said of Ruen’s trey. “It didn’t look like a freshman shooting that shot; she’s got ice water in her veins.”

Both teams started slow in a game marred by 58 combined turnovers.

The Vikings shot 28 percent from the field, including 21 percent in the first half when they fell behind 32-9.

Post Falls senior Heidi Umthun scored 15 of her game-high 22 points by halftime.

“We went to a box-and-one (defense) and forced (Umthun) to shoot outside and she canned them,” Coeur d’Alene coach Sheila Sharp said. “That’s what you’ve got to do in those situations.”

Johnson prepared for that defense, as well as a diamond-and-one, both of which the Vikings used during the regular season.

“It depends if Janelle is in the game; it’s really difficult to get good shots out of those defenses,” Johnson said. “My biggest concern was we hold them to as low of score as possible just in case we weren’t productive offensively.”

A 12-footer by Ruen and a baseline basket from Umthun stretched Post Falls’ advantage to 27 points with 6:50 left in the third quarter.

The Vikings answered with their only sustained offensive momentum of the game - an 8-0 run, capped by Andrea Wilkey’s basket at 4:14 which made it a 36-17 game.

But Coeur d’Alene wouldn’t score again until 6:50 remained in the fourth quarter. The Trojans, meanwhile, extended the lead to 30 points.

Ruen added 11 points and six rebounds.

Wilkey’s 11 points topped Coeur d’Alene, which ended the year 4-16.

The Vikings played their last five games without the team’s scoring leader Jill Pederson (10.7 points per game) who underwent surgery Tuesday to repair torn ligaments on her right knee.

Post Falls 56, Coeur d’Alene 29

Coeur d’Alene 6 3 8 12 - 29

Post Falls 14 18 13 11 - 56

COEUR D’ALENEChambers 2, Orr 2, Cultra 0, Tatum 2, Wilkey 11, Stern 2, Pearson 8, Hansen 2.

POST FALLSKlaudt 0, Umthun 22, Murphy 2, Swanstrom 3, Waltz 8, Thomson 5, Ruen 11, Glaser 2, Beatty 3, Brown 0.

, DataTimes