No. 1 Timberwolves Respond To Challenge

It seemed obvious where the Lake City High girls basketball players’ minds were Tuesday night.

Not in Coeur d’Alene. They were thinking about the showdown Thursday at Lewiston for the Inland Empire League championship and the reward for winning it: Playing host to the state-qualifying regional tournament.

So Timberwolves coach Dave Stockwell gave his team a friendly wakeup call at halftime in a league contest against the crosstown rival.

With a measurable increase in their intensity level, the T-Wolves pulled away in the second half for a comfortable 60-40 victory at LC.

Top-ranked LC (17-2 overall, 7-0 in league) clinched no worse than a tie for the league crown. CdA, fighting to avoid the league cellar, fell to 5-14, 1-6.

“We we’re looking past this game,” Stockwell said. “We were sluggish. We didn’t play bad, but we didn’t play as good as we could. I told them about it a couple times (at halftime). We were just a half a beat behind for most of the game. I told them that regardless of who they’re playing they have to play their hardest every time we play. They came out and picked ‘er up pretty good.”

To the Vikings’ credit, the game was relatively close until the final 2 minutes of the first half.

CdA’s Kellie Stern got a putback with 2:20 left before intermission, pulling the Viks within 24-18.

An 8-1 spurt, highlighted by 3-pointers from Laura Dodge and Katie Hatrock, allowed LC to extend the margin to 32-19 by half’s end.

A steal and a layup by Lindsay Herbert and an acrobatic reverse scoop layup by the T-Wolf standout put LC ahead 36-19 less than a minute into the third quarter.

LC continued to add to the lead until a basket by Marni Hayes and a free throw from Jamie Cole made the score 49-28 going into the final quarter.

The T-Wolves led by as many as 25 points in the final quarter.

Hatrock, LC’s lone senior starter and one of two seniors on the team, had a hot first half. She scored 14 of her team-high 16 points in the opening two quarters as she made 4 of 7 3-pointers.

Herbert added 14 and Dodge played solidly and finished with 13. Stern led CdA with 13.

It was LC’s sixth win in as many games against CdA - although the margin of victory by the T-Wolves has been smaller in this season’s games. LC defeated the Viks 68-46 earlier at CdA.

If Lewiston were to defeat LC on Thursday, a coin flip would be necessary to determine the regional tourney host.

“We’re going to have to play a lot better defense against Lewiston,” Stockwell said.

Lake City 60, Coeur d’Alene 40

Coeur d’Alene 6 13 9 12 - 40

Lake City 18 14 17 11 - 60

Lake City - Hatrock 16, Hayes 4, Hawn 3, Cole 1, Nimke 2, Herbert 14, McCabe 0, Dodge 13, Asher 7, Carpenter 0, Gerzina 0.

Coeur d’Alene - Wilkey 6, Stern 13, Vig 0, Stranger 7, Andre 5, Shirley 3, Orr 2, Cultra 3, Davis 1, Bradbury 0.

Bonner Ferry 52, Kellogg 49

Bonners Ferry stayed undefeated in the Intermountain League with the victory at Kellogg.

Kellogg jumped out to a 30-22 lead in the first half, and then went cold in a third quarter that gave the lead back to Bonners Ferry. The Badgers were 8 of 16 from the field in the third period, while Kellogg was doomed by a 1-of-9 effort.

The Wildcats’ Amy Lemon made a 3-pointer with :03 remaining in the game to pull Kellogg within three points, but the Badgers ran out the clock.

Bonners Ferry (7-0 league, 12-2 over-all) was paced by Amber Paulson’s 17 points. Kellogg (2-6, 5-12) got 19 points from Cara Burkgart.

Bonners Ferry 8 14 18 12 - 52

Kellogg 17 13 2 17 - 49

BONNERS FERRY Walter 4, Decker 4, Bateman 9, J.Larson 0, Myers 0, Braniff 10, Carey 6, Paulson 17, Downing 0, Carlson 0, Mormon. KELLOGG Magnus 4, Greibil 2, Burkgart 19, Vork 0, Stevens 0, Lemon 15, Burg 0, Hei 4, Luchini 5, Hunt 0, Connors.

Post Falls 44, East Valley 22

The Trojans used an intense defensive effort to defeat the visiting Knights in a non-league game.

The Trojans were led by Janelle Ruen’s 21 points, including 4 for 4 from the field in the first quarter.

East Valley was held to 10 points in the first half, as Post Falls applied an attacking defense that led to 11 steals for the game.

Post Falls improved to 10-8 overall.

East Valley 5 5 4 8 - 22

Post Falls 16 7 11 10 - 44

EAST VALLEY Conard 0, Mackey 2, Hobbs 0, Tomblin 3, Neal 2, Stookey 0, Schumacher 6, Triplett 3, Myers 0, Combs 6.

POST FALLS Billetz 9, Edmonds 2, Foster 4, Glaser 6, Juhlin 0, Klaudt 0, Ruen 21, Swanstrom 0, Waltz 2.

Washington

St. John-End 58, Reardan 40

Even by Tricia Lamb’s standards, Tuesday’s performance was eye-opening.

Lamb, a senior who has committed to play at Washington State University, scored 38 points and added 10 rebounds to guide Class B second-ranked St. John-Endicott (14-2) to a 58-40 non-league win over Reardan (10-6) at St. John.

Lamb scored 28 when SJE beat Reardan by two points nearly four weeks ago in Reardan. This time, Reardan scoring leader Katie Supinger (17.4 ppg) ran into early foul trouble and was limited to six points.

SJE 58, Reardan 40

Reardan 9 11 12 8 - 40

St. John-Endicott 11 15 16 16 - 58

REARDAN Cassaro 0, Jayne 4, Schwartz 8, Krupke 8, Soliday 0, Plummer 2, Turner 12, Supinger 6, Hicks 6.

ST. JOHN-ENDICOTT Ki. Colyar 2, Ko. Colyar 0, Bafus 2, Lamb 38, Loomis 0, Zuger 6, Kjack 0, Kile 6, Schmick 0, Headlund 4.

, DataTimes