Lake City Girls Rally For Victory

Technically, the Lake City High School girls basketball team committed out-and-out thievery Thursday night.

Trailing by 11 points with under 3 minutes remaining, the defending State A-1 champion Timberwolves used a momentum swing keyed by a technical foul to steal a 50-49 win over Lewiston in a first-round Region I Tournament game at LC.

LC (12-7) will meet Inland Empire League champion Sandpoint (16-2), a 56-46 winner over Post Falls, in the regional title game Saturday at Bulldog Gym. Tipoff will follow 20 minutes after the loser-out game between Lewiston (10-9) and Post Falls (12-10) at 6 p.m.

Lewiston’s Laura Bloom hit a short baseline jumper to give the Bengals their biggest lead at 46-35 with 3:56 remaining.

Panic began to set in for the Timberwolves, who committed uncharacteristic turnovers on consecutive possessions following Bloom’s basket.

A Bengals offensive foul gave LC the ball back, and T-Wolves sophomore Lindsay Herbert, with Andrea Gomez in her face, hit a 3-pointer, cutting Lewiston’s lead to 46-38.

Then the critical moment of the game occurred. Gomez took the ball to midcourt where she called for a timeout with three T-Wolves draped around her. Apparently thinking she was fouled as an official awarded the timeout, Gomez threw the ball into the back of LC guard Kristi Jacobson.

The referee immediately called a technical on Gomez with 2:21 left. LC’s late-game hero, reserve wing Laura Tolzmann, made both foul shots and trimmed Lewiston’s lead to 46-40.

The T-Wolves had the possession following the free throws, and Tolzmann drove to the basket. She held off a Bengal on her hip and made a short shot as she was fouled.

She missed the free throw, but the Timberwolves grabbed the rebound. Tolzmann’s ensuing jumper was partially blocked, but the ball landed in the hands of wide-open teammate Heather Stetson, who made a short jump shot that sliced Lewiston’s lead to 46-44 at the 1:43 mark.

LC forced a turnover 6 seconds later and Tolzmann sank a 13-footer for the tying basket at 1:34.

After both teams exchanged turnovers, Tolzmann and Natalie Telford combined to force a steal at midcourt. With 14 seconds left, Tolzmann fed a nice give-and-go pass to Stetson for an easy basket that gave LC the lead at 48-46.

Herbert stole Lewiston’s ensuing inbounds pass and the Bengals fouled her immediately. Herbert made both ends of the one-and-one situation to complete a 15-0 streak.

Lewiston’s Stephania Hunt hit a 3-pointer from the corner as time expired.

A week ago, Lewiston earned a split of the regular-season series with LC when the Bengals hammered the T-Wolves 60-36 at Lewiston.

The Bengals had a psychological edge going into the game, and used tough man-to-man defense in the third quarter to build a 40-31 lead going into the final period.

LC coach Dave Stockwell said his team was essentially left for dead when Lewiston built its 11-point lead.

“We started panicking there a little too soon,” Stockwell said. “They were trying so hard not to lose that they forgot how to win for a while. Hey the breaks were on our side tonight for a change.”

Tolzmann, who scored 13 points, sensed her team needed somebody to step up, and she was glad to oblige. She had made just 3 of 11 shots from the field when she found her touch late.

“I wasn’t hitting any outside shots and I told myself I better come up with something quick because we were down and we needed some big thing to happen,” Tolzmann said. “The turning point was the technical foul.”

Lake City 50, Lewiston 49

Lewiston 16 10 14 9 - 49

Lake City 12 14 5 19 - 50

LAKE CITY Jacobson 0, Hatrock 4, Tolzmann 13, Telford 4, Stetson 10, Herbert 15, Dodge 2, A.Asher 2.

LEWISTON Roberts 0, Hunt 3, Gomez 12, Martin 5, McEachern 9, Cushman 3, Bloom 17.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo