Hawks fall flat in semis

MERIDIAN, Idaho – The Lakeland High girls basketball team suffered from one too many scoring droughts against perhaps the State 4A champion in waiting.

For a second consecutive year Lakeland will play for a third-place trophy as the Bonneville Bees stung the Hawks 49-44 in a semifinal Friday at Mountain View High School.

It will be an all-High Country Conference final when Bonneville (20-5) faces upstart Blackfoot (18-10) in the state final tonight. Blackfoot held off Minico 30-27 in the other semifinal.

Lakeland (16-7) meets District IV-V champ Minico (21-4) this morning at 10 PST. Emmett (21-4) and Skyview (20-4) will decide fourth in an all-District III showdown.

Bonneville 49, Lakeland 44: The Bees will be out for a rare double tonight.

A winner of a handful of state titles in volleyball, including last fall, Bonneville will try to make it a sweep in the girls’ two major sports.

But the Bees couldn’t celebrate Friday until a free throw by Natalie Lindley gave Bonneville a 49-42 lead with 10 seconds remaining.

Despite Lakeland just scoring a season-low two points in the second quarter, Bonneville had to stave off the Hawks twice in the fourth quarter.

Lakeland’s lone basket in the second period came when backup post Bridgitt Bohannon banked in a shot that was akin to a throw at the 4:14 mark, tying the score at 17. The Hawks missed their first six shots of the quarter and their final five after Bohannon’s unlikely basket.

“We were a little bit flat,” Lakeland coach Steve Seymour said politely. “I don’t know if it was all the run-and-gun (pace). It happens at state – the second game you get a little bit flat. We just had a hard time getting our legs under us. And Bonneville did a good job. They executed better than we did.”

Still, Lakeland only trailed 23-17 at halftime. Defense, the Hawks’ trademark, kept the Rathdrum school in the game until the end.

The Hawks forced three turnovers to open the second half, and Lakeland took advantage when senior wing Mindy Meyer hit a pull up 6-foot on the baseline to knot the score at 23 with 4:42 left in the quarter.

The teams would enter the fourth quarter tangled at 28-28.

But after starting junior post Brigitte Boucher scored her lone basket of the game while falling to the floor, forging a 32-32 tie at the 6:27 mark, the Hawks hit another offensive dry spell.

The Bees used a 7-0 spurt for a 39-32 lead, highlighted when Kristi Lindley blindly saved a ball from going out of bounds under the Bees’ basket and batted it to a wide-open Cherise Koster, who put the layup in with 4:40 to go.

“They made the passes and the shots. They didn’t turn it over,” Seymour said. “I looked at my assistant coach and (said) ‘We haven’t got a good bounce yet.’ But Bonneville was creating some of those good bounces by beating us to the punch.

“It seemed like we rattled them at times. … But they played with better composure than we did,” Seymour said. “Their defense was solid.”

Lakeland’s drought finally ended with 2:55 to play when Meyer made two free throws to pull the Hawks within 39-34.

Thirty seconds later, the never-quit Meyer launched a 3-pointer from 21 feet that got nothing but net, pulling Lakeland within 39-37.

And a Bonneville turnover immediately following a Bees timeout gave Lakeland an opportunity to tie. But an ill-advised jumper by Bohannon was off, and Bonneville zipped out on a 9-3 run that put the Bees in front 48-40 with 21 seconds left.

Meyer led all scorers with 21 points. She was the lone Hawk in double figures.

“She stepped up and played well,” Seymour said. “It’s neat to see in a state tournament, even when we struggle and we lose, there’s always going to be some kid that seems to play above and beyond and has a memorable game. Good for Mindy Meyer.”

Bees senior guard Amy Passey eclipsed the 1,000-point milestone with 14 points. Morgan Smith had a team-high 16.

“We lost track of Passey a couple of key times,” Seymour said. “It wasn’t just bonehead plays. It was trying to play team basketball and helping out. We helped when we should have stayed with her. It happens.”

Meyer sensed her team was flat.

“It didn’t seem like we were really in it – especially the first half,” Meyer said. “It was a very poor offensive performance. The second quarter was horrible.”

Bonneville coach Traci Peterson said her team held off the gas pedal because it didn’t want to get caught up in a fast tempo.

“They’re so talented and they push the ball up so well that we knew we had to get back on defense,” Peterson said. “I thought they did a really, really good job of getting back and not allowing Lakeland to run the ball.”