Vikings Advance To Region Final Defense, Inside Duo Do In Moscow Girls

As for style points, it was still short of expectation.

But Coeur d’Alene High girls basketball coach Bill Pratt managed a couple more smiles than the night before thanks to longer stretches of execution.

Pratt’s Vikings moved within a victory of returning to state following a 44-37 win over Moscow in an A-1 Region I game Friday at Viking Gym. So Pratt couldn’t be overly critical as the Vikings were never seriously threatened posting their 20th straight victory.

The Viks were much more fluid offensively and defensively than they were in a 46-43 win over Lake City on Thursday.

CdA (21-1) advances to the regional title game, which the Viks play host to on Tuesday. They await the winner of tonight’s elimination game pitting Post Falls (16-7) at Moscow (16-6).

In a loser-out game Friday, Post Falls knocked off Lake City 49-48 in overtime at Post Falls.

The Viks wasted no time establishing their game plan. They went inside to twin posts Shaylia Davis and Brittany Douglas, who combined for 14 of the Vikings’ 16 first-quarter points.

The Viks closed out the first half with a 7-0 spurt to take a 29-15 lead into the second half.

Douglas, who scored all 10 of her points in the first half, finished with two free throws and a short jumper inside off a nice feed from Davis. That, coupled with a 3-pointer from Kari Lenz, accounted for the seven unanswered points.

CdA’s biggest lead (31-15) came when Lenz hit a jumper just inside the top of the 3-point arc for the first basket of the third quarter.

The lead remained in double figures until Moscow’s Brittanni Bisbee made an awkward shot in the key and a foul shot for the game’s final points.

Davis, noticeably gimpy at times, played with a tight calf that was kicked just before halftime against Lake City.

“It was tight all day during school,” said Davis, who still managed a game-high 15 points and six rebounds.

Davis iced and rubbed the calf while her teammates had a shootaround 40 minutes before the game. She joined her team during the usual pregame warmups, and dashed into the training room at halftime for treatment.

Pratt looked at the clock late in the fourth quarter and realized he needed to pull Davis so she wouldn’t aggravate the injury more.

As Davis was coming off the court, though, she tripped while backpedaling toward the Viks’ bench. Pratt and assistant coach Keri Schwenke caught Davis and kept her from falling into the bleachers.

“I thought she was going to go into the stands headfirst,” Pratt said, smiling and shaking his head.

Davis, who played with football pads around her hips last year to support a sore back, has a high pain threshold. It would have taken a broken leg to have kept her out.

“Their inside duo was tough,” Moscow coach Sam Hoogsteen said.

But Hoogsteen thought turnovers had more to do with his team’s undoing. The Bears committed 26.

Although many came against CdA’s 2-3 zone, several also occurred in transition.

“It wasn’t like it was against man pressure,” Hoogsteen said. “It was just not taking care of the ball. A lot of them were on fast breaks.”

Pratt, a disciple of man-to-man defense, has played zone only twice this season. And both times it was against Moscow.

“Don’t let that out,” Pratt said, smiling again. “It’s hard for me to play zone. I think you have to teach all of it because you play against all of it. We’re pretty active in the zone, and we close out hard on the shooters.”

CdA had several steals. Junior wing Dani Bielec led with seven.

Hoogsteen likes his team’s chances of returning to CdA.

“In two years in being in A-1 we’ve only lost twice at home and both were to Coeur d’Alene,” Hoogsteen said.

Coeur d’Alene 44, Moscow 37

Moscow 10 5 8 14 - 37

Coeur d’Alene 16 13 8 7 - 44

Moscow (16-6) - Brown 1 0-0 2, LeFors 1 0-0 2, Robinson 1 2-2 4, Vasquez 1 0-0 2, Sorbel 3 0-0 6, Bisbee 2 2-4 6, Hawley 2 1-2 7, Goetz 3 2-3 8. Totals 14 7-11 37.

Coeur d’Alene (21-1) - Lenz 3 0-0 8, Stranger 0 0-0 0, Roetter 0 0-0 0, Vig 1 0-0 2, Baracco 1 0-0 2, Hauck 0 1-2 1, Bielec 2 2-2 6, Douglas 4 2-2 10, Budvarson 0 0-0 0, Davis 6 3-4 15. Totals 17 8-12 44.

3-point goals - Hawley 2, Lenz 2. Total fouls - Moscow 13, Coeur d’Alene 10. Fouled out - none. Technicals - none.