Dig it! Miners to state

Forgive the Wallace High girls basketball team if it didn’t quite know how to celebrate Friday. It has, after all, been 26 years since the Miners qualified for state.

Wallace ended the drought in grand fashion with a 61-31 runaway victory over Lakeside in the 1A District I championship game at Lakeland High School in Rathdrum.

The Miners, who will make just their second trip to state in school history, probably should incorporate some celebration drills in their prestate practices next week. Sophomore Heather Moore sprained an ankle as the Miners jumped around and hugged near midcourt seconds after the horn sounded.

Wallace (19-3) takes on District IV fourth-place finisher Hagerman (18-6) at Skyview High School in Nampa when the state tourney begins at two sites Wednesday. Tipoff is at 5:15 p.m. PST.

Lakeside (12-9) and Kootenai (10-12), which eliminated Clark Fork 39-35 in the early game Friday, face off this afternoon at 4 to decide the second state berth.

Wallace 61, Lakeside 31: The taller and better-shooting Miners had their way with the short Knights.

The Miners used a 13-1 run to open the game. Behind back-to-back 3-pointers by Corrina Hendrickx, Lakeside fought back within 19-15 with 6:12 remaining in the second quarter.

But Wallace began pulling away behind its balanced attack, outscoring the Knights 16-4 to take a 35-19 lead into halftime.

“They’re a good team,” Lakeside coach Ron Miller said of Wallace. “They’re balanced, they’ve got size, they’ve got outside shooting, they’ve got quickness. They make you play their style of basketball. They forced us to play their style of ball.”

Wallace sophomore point guard Cara Hayman scored a game-high 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting. She also had five rebounds, five assists and two steals. Sophomore post Krista Williams led the Miners with seven rebounds, and junior forward Heather Dechand added 10 points and six rebounds.

Miller had nothing but praise for Hayman.

“She’s tough. I’ve never seen her play a bad game,” Miller said. “She’s so consistent. She doesn’t force the issue, but she takes every shot she can get, and she makes a high percentage of them. She’s probably the best at what she does in our league.”

Hayman said the Miners played one of their best games.

“We all came out with so much energy. We were ready to play,” Hayman said.

The last time Wallace went to state was 1977-78.

“Wallace hasn’t been to state in like 30-some years,” said Hayman.

Wallace coach Art Krulitz liked his team’s attitude from the opening tip.

“They came out with intensity,” Krulitz said. “We felt very confident coming out of (halftime) that we could control the second half. We’ve always been a really good second-half team.”

Kootenai 39, Clark Fork 35: The Warriors survived a hideous start to overcome the upset-minded Wampus Cats (7-12).

CF opened a 9-2 lead after the first quarter, but the Warriors came charging back in the second period to outscore CF 17-6.

Sophomore Cassie Scheffelmaier led Kootenai with 18 points, seven rebounds, six assists and three steals. Kendra Willms added eight rebounds.

CF’s Rashell Trunnell scored 12.