Vikings Team Up For A Win Cda Claims State Opener With Balance

When both teams’ most valuable players essentially canceled each other out with their below-average play, it was the better team that stepped up at the State A-1 girls basketball tournament Thursday.

And that was Coeur d’Alene. The Vikings haven’t won 22 straight games just on the strength of senior post player Shaylia Davis.

Coeur d’Alene survived the predictable jitters and up-and-down emotion of first-round games, pulling away from traditional power Centennial 49-37 at the Idaho Center.

The Vikings (23-1) will take on District II runner-up Meridian (22-3) tonight at 5:30 PST. The game will be carried live on KVNI (1080-AM).

Meridian jumped out to a 17-3 lead against Blackfoot before holding on for a 54-50 upset.

In other openers, District III champ Boise nipped Madison 40-39, and Skyview held off Highland 56-52.

In the other semifinal, Boise (23-3) will meet Skyview (15-11).

Coeur d’Alene 49, Centennial 37

Davis, who played just 12 minutes and 57 seconds, came into state averaging 16.5 points per game. Patriots senior post Elisha Booth came in scoring 16 ppg.

Davis scored six and sat much of the second half with either foul trouble or a tender ankle. Booth - who was coming off games in which she scored 32, 29 and 19 points - finished with three and fouled out with 7:13 left in the fourth quarter.

CdA won the battle inside in more ways than one. Davis, realizing she was having an off-night offensively, teamed with posts Brittany Douglas and Whytnie Budvarson, a reserve, to stop Booth.

“If you don’t have offense, you’ve got to play defense,” said Davis, who wanted to play her best before her future fans in the Boise area. She’s headed to Boise State next year.

“I thought we did a good job of taking (their posts) out of the game, and they did a good job of taking Shaylia out of the game, so it was if both posts were non-existent,” CdA coach Bill Pratt said.

Davis’ teammates picked up the slack - especially the perimeter players.

Junior wing Dani Bielec and senior guard Kari Lenz combined for 24 points. Bielec led with 14 as she made 2 of 4 3-pointers and Lenz added 10 on 3 of 4 behind the 3-point arc.

“We started looking for the shot,” Lenz said. “All of our perimeter - we were all on.”

CdA took control in the second quarter, and just added to its lead thereafter. The Viks led 19-11 at halftime.

The Viks pushed it to 31-15 late in the third quarter when Budvarson, in for Davis who had suffered a slightly sprained ankle earlier in the period, scored back-to-back baskets in the key.

Two free throws by Patti Stranger with 2:59 left in the game gave CdA its biggest lead at 45-27.

“Down the stretch, we didn’t make really good decisions,” Pratt said. “It was a little sloppy.”

But Pratt wasn’t about to give the Patriots a do-over, though.

“They’re a good team,” Pratt said. “They’re going to make you lose your composure and tighten up a bit because of who they are. (Centennial coach) Emery Roy is the legend in this tournament.

“It would have been nice to beat them going away,” Pratt added. “But we went back to that hang-on mentality which I don’t like.”

Roy didn’t recognize his team. Much of it had to do with the Viks’ defense.

“We weren’t very patient,” Roy said. “We were taking shots we normally don’t take. They were giving us some shots we usually make, but we didn’t make any tonight.”

Pratt praised several players.

“This group of kids - someone, somehow steps up and finds a way to do it,” he said. “That’s the strength of this group.”

Stranger wasn’t surprised the Viks struggled at times.

“Part of it comes from not playing for a week; part of it is the first game at state,” Stranger said. She expects CdA to play much better tonight.

CdA 49, Centennial 37

Centennial 8 3 6 20 - 37

Coeur d’Alene 13 6 12 18 - 49

Centennial - Finis 1-1 0-0 3, Ginther 1-6 2-2 4, Cook 1-4 0-0 2, Walden 6-10 2-4 14, Polowski 0-5 3-5 3, Yorgason 0-1 0-0 0, Keilty 0 0- 0 0, Booth 1-5 1-1 3, Williams 4-9 0-4 8. Totals 14-51 8-16 37.

Coeur d’Alene - Lenz 3-4 1-2 10, Stranger 0-0 4-4 4, Roetter 0-0 0-0 0, Vig 0-1 0-0 0, Baracco 0-0 0-0 0, Hauck 1-5 0-0 3, Bielec 4-6 4- 4 14, Douglas 3-6 1-4 7, Budvarson 2-6 1-2 5, Davis 3-10 0-0 6. Totals 16-38 11-16 49. 3-point goals - Finis, Lenz 3, Bielec 2, Hauck. Total fouls - Centennial 18, Coeur d’Alene 19. Fouled out - Polowski, Booth.