Lakeland earns trip to state by beating Bears

RATHDRUM – Call it “A Tale of Two Halves: The Sequel.”

The Lakeland High girls basketball team earned a trip to state Friday with a 46-42 victory over visiting Moscow in the championship game of the 4A Region I Tournament.

But just as in Moscow’s last visit to LHS, the top-seeded Hawks went out to a huge first-half lead and then had to hang on.

The win propels Lakeland (15-6) to the State 4A tournament beginning Feb. 17 at Mountain View in Meridian. Moscow (9-13), the No. 3 seed, travels to No. 2 Sandpoint on Tuesday for the right to travel south for a play-in game next Saturday.

Sandpoint on Friday eliminated visiting No. 4 Post Falls 58-40.

Friday’s theatrics were all too familiar to Lakeland senior guard Jessie Bartlett, who had a team-high 17 points and four steals.

“It was definitely nerve-racking,” said Bartlett, who scored 15 in a first half that saw Lakeland go up by as much as 20 and take a 30-15 lead to the locker room. “We didn’t really react as well as we wanted to, but in the end we came through.”

She pointed out that she and her teammates, preseason underdogs, will take the automatic state berth any way they can get it.

“It feels awesome, so awesome,” she said. “Nobody expected it, and look at us now.

“It’s great to surprise people, too.”

The Hawks, who led by 20 at the half and held on for a two-point win when the teams last met, had everything working in the first two quarters. Lakeland shot 44 percent from the field and held Moscow to just 27 percent while forcing 11 Bears turnovers with an aggressive full-court defense.

But Moscow came out of the intermission enlivened and went on a 19-5 run, keyed by 10 third-quarter points from senior wing Jackie Calhoun, and cut the lead to one at 35-34 with 6 minutes left.

The Bears were as close as two, at 42-40, with a minute to go, but Bartlett and senior guard Mindy Meyer each hit 2 of 2 from the foul line in the final minute to salt away the victory.

Lakeland coach Steve Seymour described the latest roller-coaster ride:

“We’re up big early, they make a huge run and we have to battle. I think it may be (harder for us to play with a big lead), but we struggled to survive, and I think it felt pretty good for us.

“Moscow was probably a better team than they showed in the first half, but we were pretty good in the first half, too.”

He singled out Bartlett and said he couldn’t be happier with his entire team’s effort.

“Jessie Bartlett – talk about a girl who came out ready to play,” Seymour said. “No matter how much I coach, these kids have to make the plays.

“I am so proud of this team right now that I’m just bursting.”

Moscow coach Lisa Carscallen said she and her team are ready for Tuesday, but obviously have to wonder what might have been had they shown up for the first half.

“I guess we just have lapse in confidence where we don’t feel like we’re a very good team,” she said. “Then we come back from another 20-point deficit and make a tight game out of it.

“So there’s no doubt we’re a great team – now it’s just a matter of having that feeling for an entire game.”

Calhoun finished with a game-high 18 points and teammate Kelsey Taylor had a game-high 13 rebounds and five blocked shots.

Ashley Beck had eight rebounds and Meyer finished with 10 points and four boards for Lakeland.

Sandpoint 58, Post Falls 40: The Bulldogs used a 23-14 fourth quarter to eliminate the Trojans from the 4A Region I playoffs.

Sandpoint got 17 points and 10 rebounds from Kelsey James, and 16 points from Ashleigh Mire while building as much as a 24-point lead in the fourth quarter.

Sandpoint hosts Moscow at 7 p.m. Tuesday.