Stiegemeier wills Lakeland to victory

BOISE – By her own admission Lakeland’s Kayla Stiegemeier is a sore loser. Maybe that is why she took over the Hawks’ State 4A first-round basketball game against Preston and led her team to victory Thursday.

With Lakeland’s lead down to nine points and two starters sitting on the bench with four fouls midway through the third quarter, Stiegemeier made enough plays to help her team beat Preston 52-35 at Timberline High School.

“I knew I had to just basically take over, because I’m a horrible loser,” she said. “I don’t normally handle the ball, but I knew I had too because I was the oldest one on the floor.”

Clinging to a 29-20 lead with Preston attempting to rally, Stiegemeier sandwiched two free throws and a 3-pointer around freshman Camille Reynolds 3-pointer to put the Hawks up 15 going into the fourth.

”(Stiegemeier) was definitely the leader and made things work,” Lakeland coach Steve Seymour said. “Some people think she plays out of control, but she is just that quick.”

Stiegemeier kept the offense going in the fourth quarter, making 5 of 6 free throws to help ice the game. The senior finished with 17 points. With the win Lakeland advances to the semifinals at 5:15 p.m. PST today when it will face Vallivue (23-0). Vallivue beat Hillcrest 56-39 in its first-round game.

While Stiegemeier was busy scoring points, Reynolds provided some key ballhandling when Preston went to a press in the fourth quarter. “She stepped up and handled the ball well,” Stiegemeier said of Reynolds.

“She played great. That’s tough as a freshman, I couldn’t do it.”

Reynolds wasn’t the only youngster that played big minutes for Lakeland.

Seymour had to juggle his lineup as his team was whistled for 16 team fouls in the first half.

“I was starting to look at kids whose names I wasn’t sure of,” he said. “They were in the double bonus at the end of the first quarter and it was a situation that could’ve spelled disaster.

“It was strange, we had to be a little creative with our lineups. But girls that normally play a minute-and-a-half, played 14 and 15 solid minutes.”

Seymour said he was especially proud of junior Katie Sanders, who got some big rebounds.

The Hawks finished with 25 team fouls, but were able to survive it thanks in part to Preston’s terrible free-throw shooting.

The Indians only converted 10 of 23 in the first half and finished the game 16 for 33.

The only player that could get anything going for Preston was Jaycee Rawlings. Rawlings scored Preston’s first eight points and finished with 20 points, though she wasn’t the same in the second half after hurting her knee late in the first half.

Lakeland led by as many as 13 in the first half as Natalie Nichols and Stiegemeier hit 3-pointers and Brigitte Boucher and Bridgitt Bohannon each hit two free throws.

Nichols finished with 11 points and Bohannon added 10 points and nine rebounds.

The Hawks took a 25-16 lead into the half before getting into serious foul trouble.

Moscow 47, Bonneville 35: Kelsey Taylor scored 17 points, hitting 7 of 12 from the floor, and added 12 rebounds to guide a 46-26 advantage as the Bears (12-13) opened with a win over the Bees (16-10), who went scoreless in the second quarter.

Moscow will play Burley in today’s semifinals.