CdA boys, girls down rival Lake City

Kent Leiss knows his team is one-dimensional, but he’s hard-pressed to do anything about it.

“We literally have nine guards on our roster,” Leiss said minutes after his Coeur d’Alene boys basketball team rallied and held on to beat visiting Lake City 55-54 Friday night at Elmer Jordan Court. “We don’t have one post player. We struggle trying to get the basketball inside.”

That was evident throughout the Vikings’ victory, although CdA managed to improve to 4-1 overall and collected a win in its Inland Empire League opener. Lake City fell to 3-2 and 1-1 when Trent Bridges’ off-balance, one-handed heave rattled out of the basket in the waning seconds.

Austin Heleker made five 3-pointers for CdA, three of them in the fourth quarter, to aid his team’s recovery from an offensive meltdown during the middle two quarters.

Heleker’s final 3-pointer gave the Vikings a 47-45 edge with 4:53 remaining. Although Lake City managed to tie the game less than a minute later, the Timberwolves were unable to secure the lead again.

“Austin is a very good shooter,” Leiss said. “I’d say he’s our best shooter, consistently so.”

With 8 seconds left, CdA’s Nate Bligh called a timeout after he collected a loose ball along his team’s baseline. The Vikings couldn’t inbound the ball in the allotted 5 seconds, however, and gave Lake City a final chance to score. Bligh challenged Bridges’ last attempt, and the Timberwolves couldn’t control the rebound in time to attempt another shot.

“Kama Griffitts came back after early foul trouble and led Coeur d’Alene in the decisive fourth quarter of a 49-35 girls win over visiting Lake City.

CdA extended its season-opening win streak to eight and improved to 4-0 in the Inland Empire League. Lake City lost to the Vikings for the second time and slipped to 6-2 overall, 3-2 in the IEL.

The T-Wolves roared back from a 13-point deficit in the third quarter to close within 33-31 heading into the last period.

Griffitts dropped in a 3-pointer to open the fourth quarter, and she later scored seven points during an 11-0 spurt that turned the contest into a rout.

Viks Griffitts and Jenna DeLong accountede for 11 and 10 points, respectively.