Speed tops size
NAMPA, Idaho – The Coeur d’Alene High girls basketball team played its own version of the old rock-paper-scissors game Thursday.
The Vikings wanted to prove that speed tops size. While the taller Boise Braves had their moments, the smaller and more athletic Vikings had more flashes of brilliance as Coeur d’Alene upset the defending state champions 69-53 in State 5A tournament openers at the Idaho Center.
All the openers were blowouts. Highland shrugged off a Lake City comeback attempt as the Rams pulled away 44-27; Centennial was too much for Eagle 39-28; and Borah smothered Skyline 49-33.
Coeur d’Alene (18-5) will take on District III champ Borah (21-3) in the second semifinal tonight at 7 PST. In the other semifinal, Centennial (21-3) meets Highland (20-4).
Lake City (12-13) will try to rebound against Eagle (14-10) in the first of two loser-out games at 12:15. In the other elimination contest, Skyline (13-12) takes on Boise (19-5).
Coeur d’Alene 69, Boise 53: The Braves’ front line of 6-foot-5 Kelsie Clegg, 6-3 Maggie Burkett and 6-2 Kristin Henning combined for 36 points.
The Vikings countered with four players in double figures. And none stood taller than 5-10 freshman wing Kama Griffitts.
Griffitts played beyond her years, finishing with a career-high 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting and five assists. Although she made both of her 3-point shots, most of Griffitts’ baskets came amongst Boise’s tall timber.
“Griffitts has been getting better and better all year long,” CdA coach Dale Poffenroth said.
Boise coach Kim Brydges said her team was aware of Griffitts before the game, but didn’t expect her to play like she did.
“She was on the radar, but not that high on the radar for us,” Brydges said. “You look at their scorers down the stretch (of the season) and we were obviously really concerned about both (Jenna) DeLong and (Deanna) Dotts who both chipped in their double figures collectively. When you see both of those other two kids going off for 21 and 25, that’s really tough.”
The 25 points Brydges alluded to was put up by junior guard Lindsay Stark, whose game-high effort included 13 points in the fourth quarter. She made 10 of 12 free throws, including seven of eight in the final period as the Viks pulled away. DeLong and Dotts had 11 and 10 respectively. Dotts also had a game-high 11 rebounds.
Boise got out to a 7-2 lead, but CdA fought back and took its first lead at 13-11 when Dotts hit a baseline jumper at the buzzer to end the first period.
Two free throws by freshman Amy Warbrick would give CdA the lead for good at 16-15 with 6:17 to go before halftime. But the Braves would make a final run in the third quarter.
The Braves’ inside trio accounted for all 18 of Boise’s points in the third quarter. A short jumper by Henning pulled the Braves within 43-42 with 18 seconds left in the period.
But Stark stopped Boise’s surge when she buried a 3-pointer with :08 left, giving CdA a 46-42 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Brittany Rhoades hit a 19-foot jumper to cut CdA’s lead to 51-48 with 5:21 to play. But that’s when CdA began to run away.
Poffenroth said his team had no option other than to take the game to Boise.
“We had no choice,” Poffenroth said. “It’s their size versus our speed. If we slow it down we’re in trouble and if you’re afraid of them you’re in trouble too. They’re going to get some. We knew they’d get some because you just can’t stop it – 6-3 to 6-5. You kind of looked at what they scored all year long and know that if it’s an uptempo game you had a chance. That’s kind of where we tried to put it.”
Highland 44, Lake City 27: When the season is over, the Timberwolves will look back on this game as a microcosm of their year.
Believe it or not, it was a game LC could have won. The momentum was teetering when T-Wolves junior guard Richelle Fenenbock broke away for a wide-open layup, a basket that would have cut the Rams’ lead to two points.
With Highland coach Scott Hansen standing and perhaps waiting to call a timeout, Fenenbock missed the layin. And as fast as you could say momentum, it had swayed back to Highland.
Thirteen straight points later, the game was over. A game that had started with LC suffering from deer-in-the-headlight jitters before the T-Wolves somehow found the resolve to fight back ended the way it started.
Here LC was trailing 19-4 in the second quarter after scoring just two points in the first period and the T-Wolves managed to close within 22-14 by halftime.
LC had chances to cut further into the lead in the third quarter, but the Rams got to the fourth quarter with a 28-21 lead.
Brittany Bemis hit a 3-pointer 28 seconds into the final period, trimming Highland’s lead to 28-24. A moment later, the T-Wolves caused another Rams turnover and Fenenbock was speeding down the court all by herself. But her shot rolled off the rim.
By contrast, Highland senior guard Celeste Hill wormed herself through traffic, hitting a driving layup with seemingly a T-Wolf attached to her hip that extended the Rams’ lead to 41-24 with 3 minutes remaining.
“I think it was jitters, the first time at state and playing in this big stadium,” said Fenenbock, who made just 2 of 14 shots from the field. LC shot 21 percent (10 of 47). “It was frustrating. We just lost our pride. We let go of our chancing of winning.”
LC coach Darren Taylor said it was easily his team’s worst shooting this season.
“They were in back-peddle mode,” Taylor said of the Rams when Fenenbock missed the layup. “I don’t think it was anything physical, I think it was more mental. You see it in sports all the time where teams rally all the way … and take a rest and turn around and you’re down by more. It happened in a hurry.”
When Highland needed a big basket, 6-foot-1 senior Kolay Mickelsen converted inside. She finished with a game-high 17 points, 12 rebounds and three blocked shots.
“I don’t think we could have missed more shots than we did,” Taylor said. “I had a feeling (at halftime) that we were going to win the game. We had the run and everything to me looked like it was in place. And then I don’t know what happened.”