As predicted in my column Thursday, the Coeur d'Alene and Lewiston girls basketball teams will face off Saturday in the State 5A championship game. Tipoff is at 7 PST and can be seen live on Idahosports.com.

Coeur d'Alene held off Highland 48-39 and Lewiston rallied from a 15-point deficit to down Centennial 57-52 in overtime.

Click the tab to read my unedited story.

Also, Kellogg and Priest River will meet in the State 3A title game.

I added the 3A games on the bottom of this file.

By Greg Lee

Staff writer

NAMPA, Idaho – If the Coeur d’Alene High girls basketball team had a true point guard, it would win the State 5A championship going away.

Ball handling has been the Vikings’ Achilles heel this season, but they’ve managed to get by with a guard-by-committee approach.

Highland tested Coeur d’Alene’s resolve in more ways than one Friday, but the Vikings held off the physical Rams 48-39 in the semifinals at the Idaho Center.

It will be an all-North Idaho final for the second time in three years when Coeur d’Alene (21-4) meets Lewiston (21-2) at 7 PST. For the fourth straight year the state trophy will go to a Panhandle team.

CdA will be after its third straight state championship. It’s the fifth consecutive year the Vikings have been in the state final.

Lewiston rallied from a 15-point deficit to knock off Centennial 57-52 in overtime.

Coeur d’Alene 48, Highland 39: The Vikings committed 13 turnovers in the first half, and the Rams took advantage.

A basket by Rams freshman guard Dakota Gonzalez with 10 seconds left in the second quarter allowed Highland to knot the score at 21-21 going into halftime.

“We just don’t have that flashy kid out top to make it happen,” Poffenroth said. “We have workhorse kids and they work hard. We have to move the ball. We didn’t move the ball as well as we could have.”

CdA limited its turnovers to four in the second half and they very well could have been the key. And they got the ball inside to posts Carli Rosenthal and Kendalyn Brainard.

Highland couldn’t stop the tandem. Rosenthal scored a game-high 18 points and Brainard had 16.

“We didn’t have much of an answer to the big girls down inside,” Highland coach Scott Hansen said.

Rosenthal and Brainard also were a force on the boards. Rosenthal had a game-high 10 and Brainard had eight as CdA outrebounded the Rams 34-19.

Poffenroth’s message to his team at halftime wasn’t any new revelation.

“I said ‘shoot the ball and don’t throw it away’,” he said. “If you shoot the ball you’ve got a chance to win the game.

We did a little more shooting the second half and didn’t throw it away quite as much.”

And they got it inside. Rosenthal and Brainard combined to score 20 of CdA’s second-half points, and those points were split evenly.

CdA’s players were frequently bumped on shots, especially Rosenthal, but the referees let the teams play both ways.

“That style wasn’t very good for us,” Poffenroth said. “They were aggressive, more aggressive than the night before. Their kids did some nice things and forced us out of our (game). We kept trying to run an offense and we got a little bit of one in the second half.”

CdA did something it could control, though, and that was play defense.

“You have to do that when things aren’t going well,” Poffenroth said.

Rosenthal praised Highland, but also applauded her team for persevering.

“They were really physical, but I think we pushed through as a team,” Rosenthal said. “We slowed it down and looked for the open person instead of throwing it to no one.”

Rosenthal expects another test tonight, but is confident her team will fare well.

“If we play really hard and play good defense we’ll do well,” she said.

Brainard said the Viks thought they wouldn’t have to work as hard Friday.

“We watched them (Thursday) and we thought it was going to be an easier game,” Brainard said. “But they came out and were impressive.”

Lewiston, which topped CdA 53-41 in the Region I final, has two straight wins over the Viks.

“We’re going to have to play better than we did (Friday),” Poffenroth said.

Lewiston 57, Centennial 52 OT: It wasn’t an improbable rally, but the Bengals were impressive nonetheless.

Senior guard Nicole Redd made a free throw with 21 seconds left to force overtime. In overtime, Redd had a big steal with 55 seconds remaining and the Bengals made 5 of 6 foul shots in the final 53 seconds to hold off the Patriots (22-3).

Tanis Fuller led Lewiston with 15 points and Savannah Blinn had 13 to go with 13 rebounds and six blocked shots.

“We’ve been in a hole before and we dug out,” Lewiston coach Pat Teichmer said. “I told them we don’t have any (15-point) plays. I said we’ve just got to hold them and play some defense and our offense will come.”

It will be the first state final for the Bengals.

“It should be another good game,” Teichmer said of facing CdA. “It’s a good matchup. We’re somewhat mirror images of each other.”

3A

Another classification will feature an all-North Idaho final at the Idaho state girls basketball tournament.

Intermountain League foes Kellogg and Priest River will decide the State 3A championship after Kellogg knocked off Weiser 33-26 and Priest River stopped Kimberly 59-53 at Skyview High School in Nampa.

The title game begins at 2:50 PST at the Idaho Center in Nampa.

Kellogg 33, Weiser 26: The Wildcats (18-8) used defense and balance to top the Wolverines.

Kirsten Viche, Ryder Ashcraft and Hailey Fuller scored eight points each to lead Kellogg.

Kellogg led 20-12 at halftime and built the lead to 28-17 going into the fourth quarter.

Viche had five rebounds and three steals and Fuller had seven rebounds.

Priest River 59, Kimberly 53: Taylor Stewart and Melissa Hopkings combined for 46 points to lead the Spartans (18-6).

Kimberly led 30-29 at halftime, but Priest River outscored the Bulldogs 16-11 in the fourth quarter to prevail.

Stewart had a game-high 25 points, making 13 of 15 foul shots. Hopkins had 21 points and 11 rebounds.

4A

Moscow 53, Twin Falls 45: The Bears (8-16) stayed alive for a trophy by outlasting the Bruins.

Moscow will play for fourth this morning.

Chelsea Waters led Moscow with 21 points, 10 rebounds, four steals and three assists. Teammate Abi Quinnett had 15 points.

1A Division II

Clark Fork 40, Rockland 35: The Wampus Cats (16-6) will play for fourth today.

Celeste Komanec led Clark Fork with 13 points and five assists. The Wampus Cats needed more than a quarter to get going after scoring just two points in the first period.

CF’s Shaina Gustafson had five assists and four steals.

 

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