Trojans Kick Up Heels Dance Past Highland, 59-41
A North Idaho girls basketball team is still alive for a state championship, but it’s not the team most expected to triumph in the first round Thursday
Underdog Post Falls played with the composure of a veteran state qualifier, not a team making its first trip to state in six years as the Trojans sprinted past District IV-V champ Highland 59-41 in the State A-1 tournament at the Idaho Center in Nampa.
Post Falls (18-8) will meet Eagle (23-1) tonight in the semifinals. Tip-off is at 7 PST.
Eagle walked over Blackfoot 47-30.
Highland (19-6) will take on Blackfoot (17-9) in a loser-out game.
Post Falls 59, Highland 41
It wasn’t the Trojans who were nervous before the game. It was their coach.
About an hour before tipoff, the Trojans were dancing in the parking lot.
Post Falls coach Chris Johnson thought about asking his girls to put their game faces on, but he thought better of it.
“That’s exactly correct,” Johnson said, smiling about his pregame nerves. “It’s not from a lack of confidence in the kids. You never know how young kids are going to react in a big situation like this.”
Post Falls showed some nerves in the first quarter. After playing to an 8-all tie after the first 8 minutes, the Trojans took over in the second.
The Trojans took the lead at 13-12, building the advantage to 28-17 by halftime. Leading the way was multi-talented junior wing Janelle Ruen.
She scored 16 of her team-high 25 points in the first half. The lead never dipped below double digits in the second half.
Ruen opened the third quarter by completing a three-point play that ignited a run that extended the Trojans’ lead to 43-25 late in the period.
“We’ve shown so much more maturity and superior decision-making lately,” said Johnson, whose starting five includes a freshman, a sophomore and two juniors. “People who saw us early in the year saw us just shoot ourselves in the foot again and again. Now we’re starting to make better basketball choices on the floor.”
In the middle of those choices you’ll generally find Ruen.
She made 11 of 16 shots from the field, grabbed nine rebounds, had five steals and added four assists. She didn’t commit a turnover.
Ruen was the middle rover in the full-court press and a pesky defender in the halfcourt, too. The Trojans forced many of Highland’s 24 turnovers while Post Falls committed 14.
Johnson was particularly pleased that his team showed patience against Highland’s man-to-man defense. And he was happy his team didn’t press the pace early when the Rams tried to keep things slow.
Ruen said the Trojans would celebrate by taking a swim.
“But we won’t do it too long,” she said. “We don’t want to be tired for tomorrow.”
The Trojans started dancing before the game and they picked up where they left off afterward.
“They’re dancing in their (locker room) right now,” Johnson said. “It’s probably good that they are young and they don’t know much about the competition down here because they’re just going to go out and play tomorrow. They’re just excited about the chance to play again.”
Ruen thought her team played with less pressure than they had in the loser-out, state-qualifying win over Boise (53-34) last week.
“We were pretty pumped up,” she said. “We don’t have that much pressure on us because we’re not expected to do awesome.”
Post Falls 59, Highland 41
Highland 8 9 10 14 - 41
Post Falls 8 20 15 16 - 59
HIGHLAND - Nielsen 1, Walker 3, Butler 0, DesFosses 1, VanWart 17, Taylor 1, Ricks 4, Bell 5, Kugler 9.
POST FALLS - Eberle 6, Billetz 5, Mills 0, Brown 4, Foster 4, Edmonds 2, Holland 2, Swanstrom 4, Ruen 25, Johnson 7.
Eagle 47, Blackfoot 30
In the least entertaining game of the four A-1 openers, the Mustangs pulled away from the Broncos in the third quarter.
Eagle outscored Blackfoot 15-4 in the decisive third period. Emily Gathwaite and Alison Graham each scored 13 points for the Mustangs.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo