Pesky Bears fall short in title game

It had all the makings of one of the most lopsided matchups in state history.

After all, it was undefeated and top-ranked Vallivue taking on Moscow, which brought a sub-500 record into the State 4A girls championship game Saturday at Nampa.

But Moscow wouldn’t cooperate.

Clearly the better team, Vallivue never could put Moscow away until the clock expired as the Falcons fought off the largely undermanned Bears 49-43 at the Idaho Center.

“We’re upset because it’s over, not because we lost,” said Moscow coach Lisa Carscallen, whose team finished 13-14. “We’re proud of how we played. We represented our league really well down here. I don’t think people gave anybody from the North a chance when we came down here.”

Let alone Moscow, which had to win a play-in game to advance to state after falling to Lakeland 60-44 in the Region I championship game.

Vallivue (26-0) used its speed and defense to bottle up the Bears, who struggled manufacturing any offense. The Falcons aggressively denied entry passes to 6-foot-4 senior post Kelsey Taylor.

“We knew we had a huge battle in front of us,” Carscallen said. “We knew that they had more pressure on them than we did because we had nothing to lose. No one thought we’d even hang with them let alone be in the game with them. The effort we gave was outstanding. These girls have never seen a championship game here before and to play in front of I don’t how many people are here and to play the way we did, I’m just proud of them.”

Taylor and Lauren Bender led Moscow with 12 points apiece. Stacie Gross topped Vallivue with 15.

Burley 39, Lakeland 30: Fate did not treat Lakeland well in its loss to Burley in the third-place game at Timberline High in Boise.

Then again, the Hawks, who finished the season 16-9, did not do much to change their fate for the better.

An injury and fouls took two key Hawks players out of a close game in the fourth quarter. But with 3-for-27 shooting from the floor in the second half, Lakeland was not making much progress toward a win anyway.

“That’s not a very good percentage,” said Lakeland coach Steve Seymour. “They came out in the third quarter and did a great job. They executed.”

With the game tied at 28 less than 2 minutes into the fourth quarter, a whack to the nose triggered an asthma attack on Lakeland sparkplug Kayla Stiegemeier. She did not play again.

Then Brigitte Boucher, the Hawks’ force in the middle, picked up her fourth foul with 4:37 left in the game. She sat out a minute and was called for her fifth foul within 30 seconds of her return to the court.

While Lakeland reeled from the blows, Burley’s force in the middle, 5-foot-11 Kandace Dalton, scored the only six points by either team in a 5-minute stretch, drawing the last two fouls on Boucher, to seal the game for the Bobcats.

“When (Dalton is) mentally tuned in, she can dominate a game,” said Burley coach Gordon Kerbs, whose team made its first appearance at the state tournament in seven years.

Dalton’s two free throws with 4:37 to go put the Bobcats ahead for good, 30-28. She dropped in a layup 40 seconds later and hit 2 of 4 free throws to give Burley a 34-28 edge with 3:15 left.

“We ended up having to play a little more zone than we like,” Seymour said. “And Dalton was the reason we played zone.”

Nichols led Lakeland with 10 rebounds.