Hawks stumble in semis

BOISE – The Lakeland High girls basketball team couldn’t upset undefeated Vallivue on Friday night at Timberline High.

But the Hawks did earn the Falcons’ respect.

Vallivue pieced together a 47-37 victory to advance to the State 4A championship game. The Falcons will play Moscow, a 53-50 winner over Burley.

Lakeland (16-8), which led by as many as eight points, dropped into the third-place game against Burley (20-4).

“(Lakeland) was the most physical team so far this year that I’ve had to deal with,” Vallivue senior Whitney Owen said. “They have a very well-balanced team. Props to them. They did an awesome job.”

Still, it wasn’t enough to overcome the Vallivue juggernaut. The Falcons are 25-0, with a deep, balanced team and a physical, frenzied defense.

“I definitely thought we could have (won),” Lakeland senior Kayla Stiegemeier said. “I still think we could have. It was a close game.”

Stiegemeier scored seven points in the first 5 minutes as Lakeland built a 13-5 lead.

Vallivue coach Stu Sells called a timeout and refocused his team.

“They came out very hard and strong, and we kind of came out lax,” Owen said. “After that (timeout), we just came out and played our game.”

Owen, who scored a game-high 19 points, made four free throws late in the first half to give the Falcons a 24-20 advantage at the break. The Hawks had befuddled Falcons post Stacie Gross in the first half, but she came out strong in the second half and took control of the game.

Gross scored on the Falcons’ first possession of the third quarter and nailed a 3-pointer at the end of the quarter for a 35-31 lead. She scored all seven of her points in the quarter.

“I grabbed her shoulders and said, ‘Stacie, it’s your time,’ ” Sells said of his halftime speech. “And I told her, honest to goodness, ‘It’s time to shine.’ “

Owen ended any Lakeland comeback thoughts early in the fourth quarter. She made a layup and a 3-pointer on back-to-back possessions of crisp passing to build a 40-31 lead.

The Falcons went into a stall, and Owen kept getting to the free-throw line. She made five free throws to offset Stiegemeier’s two 3-pointers.

“(Lakeland) came out ready to play and surprised us a little bit early,” Sells said. “We came back from there and showed the kind of team we are – we battled a very tough team.”

Stiegemeier led Lakeland with 17 points, five rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals.

“Kayla’s a competitor,” Lakeland coach Steve Seymour said. “The bigger the game, the more effort she puts into it, not that she ever gives anything less than 100 percent.”