Lake City Falls, Will Play For Third Timberwolves Can’t Hit Enough 3s To Overcome Patriots’ Free Throws

Four feet, nine inches.

It boiled down to this for the Lake City High School girls basketball team Friday - a free-throw-shooting (from 15 feet) vs. 3-point-shooting contest (from behind the 19-9 arc).

Free throws made the difference. And the Timberwolves were desperately firing up the 3-pointers.

Centennial smothered Lake City early and fought off a game Timberwolves comeback in the second half as the Patriots prevailed 65-54 in a minor upset at the State A-1 semifinals at College of Southern Idaho.

Centennial (20-5) will meet Sandpoint (20-3) in the championship game tonight at 7 PST.

Lake City (14-8) will take on Borah (24-1) for third place at 10 this morning. Sandpoint upset Borah 57-47 in the other semifinal.

Centennial reversed a season-opening, 70-53 loss at Lake City.

LC’s youth the T-Wolves start three sophomores and one junior and bring a freshman off the bench - overrode its been-there, done-that tradition.

A 3-pointer by Staci Kirk put Centennial ahead 16-5 in the opening moments of the second quarter.

Another Kirk trey extended the Patriots’ biggest lead to 26-11 with 45 seconds left before halftime.

But the Timberwolves started to find themselves, managing to trim the deficit to 26-16 going into intermission behind a driving basket and a 3-pointer by one of the sophomores, Lindsay Herbert.

But the first half was symbolic of some of LC’s struggles during the season. The T-Wolves made just 2 of 16 shots from the perimeter in the game and 1 of 13 from the field in the first quarter.

And they went 6:58 without scoring during a first-half stretch.

Still, the Timberwolves didn’t quit. In fact, they appeared poised to assert control when a Herbert 3-pointer cut Centennial’s lead to 32-31 with 2:26 left in the third quarter.

But the Pats closed the period with an 8-1 spurt for a 40-32 advantage.

Then with Centennial holding the lead in the final quarter, the T-Wolves were forced to send the Pats to the free-throw line.

Centennial made 19 straight in one stretch and made 21 of 23 in the quarter.

LC tried to exchange 3-pointers for free throws, and the T-Wolves gallantly made 5 of 11 shots from beyond the arc. Larua Tolzmann made three treys, supporting Herbert’s 25 points with 14 of her own.

Kirk led Centennial with 22 points. Barrie Jensen got loose inside on LC and added 21.

It’ll be Centennial coach Emery Roy’s eighth championship final.

“They beat us pretty handily (at Lake City) and I knew (Kirk and Jensen) would have to really step up tonight,” Roy said.

Another key to the Pats’ win was how they handled LC’s trapping pressure. In the earlier game, Centennial made 28 turnovers.

LC coach Dave Stockwell said the T-Wolves couldn’t apply the pressure they wanted because Katie Hatrock’s mobility was limited when she reinjured her sprained ankle. Hatrock was visibly slowed and went 0 for 9 from the field and scored no points.

“In the games that we’ve lost this year we’ve come out and been gunshy,” Stockwell said. “We were nervous. The youth showed. We came close in the second half but couldn’t quite get over the hump.

“There were a number of things, but it all adds up to a loss. I thought we did everything possible, by the textbook, in the fourth quarter. But they hit the free throws. Centennial played well.”

Centennial 65, Lake City 54

Lake City 5 11 16 22 - 54

Centennial 13 13 14 25 - 65

LAKE CITY Jacobson 0, Hatrock 0, Tolzmann 14, Telford 2, Stetson 9, Herbert 25, Dodge 2, A. Asher 2. CENTENNIAL Martin 7, Birch 4, Kirk 22, Pellant 11, B. Jensen 21.

, DataTimes