CdA, Post Falls win
The 5A Region I girls basketball tournament championship final won’t have the anticipated showdown between the city rivals.
Post Falls broke up the party Friday when the Trojans topped Lake City for the second time in a week.
The Trojans rallied from a seven-point deficit in the third quarter to upend Lake City 62-57 in the regional opener at Elmer Jordan Court.
No. 1-ranked Coeur d’Alene suffocated fourth-seeded Lewiston with defense and never relented as the Vikings crushed the Bengals 65-33.
No. 3-seeded Post Falls (17-4) will face Coeur d’Alene (19-2) for the region’s automatic state berth tonight at 6. In the loser-out opener, LC (17-4) will attempt to bounce back when it takes on Lewiston (9-11) at 4:15.
CdA 65, Lewiston 33: The Vikings made quick work of the Bengals.
The game got out of hand so quickly that CdA coach Dale Poffenroth played 12 of his 15 players before halftime. And if any of them hadn’t earned a varsity letter before, they received enough minutes to do so in the regional opener.
CdA zipped to a 16-2 lead in the opening quarter. The Viks extended it to 25-2 before the Bengals finally ended an 8-minute, 6-second scoring drought. They went 9:44 between baskets, finally doubling their points to six when Megan Mills hit a 3-pointer with 2:16 to go before halftime.
The Vikings used a 9-0 spurt to end the first half with a 39-6 lead. Reserve sophomore shooting ace Whitney Heleker came off the bench to score 16 points in the first half. She made all six of her shots, including four 3-pointers.
Six times CdA pushed its advantage to 39 points in the second half, including a 56-17 lead early in the fourth quarter. At that point, the Bengals nearly doubled their point total, outscoring CdA 16-9 to finish the game.
CdA’s starters, who played less than a quarter overall, finished with a combined 22 points. The bulk of the scoring came from a bench that featured three players promoted from the junior varsity for the postseason.
Despite the win, Poffenroth spent extra time talking to his team afterward.
“Tomorrow night,” Poffenroth said when asked what he was talking to his team about. “The team that we’re playing is coming off a big high – a huge high – and we didn’t get a whole lot of playing time (Friday).”
Poffenroth said defense will be what he stresses against the Trojans.
“If we don’t play defense (today) we’re in trouble,” he said.
Post Falls 62, LC 57: How impressive was the Trojans’ win?
Consider that even in three previous losses, the Timberwolves had allowed no more than 48 points. The most allowed in a win was 52.
The Trojans played tough defense, frequently collapsing down on sophomore post Katie Baker. LC’s leading scorer had just four field goals and finished with 11 points.
“Katie is such an outstanding player that we can’t handle her 1-on-1,” Post Falls coach Chris Johnson said. “We were doubling her every chance we got. I thought defensively we just did another good job on them (the T-Wolves).”
Post Falls was led again by freshman Katelyn Loper, who has come off the bench often this year to spark her team.
The 5-foot-9 Loper scored a career-high 22 points – eight more than her previous best – including four 3-pointers.
“Katelyn gives us such a lift,” Johnson said. “She’s so emotional out on the court, too, that it gets kind of infectious.”
Loper says her teammates tell her to shoot and shoot often. So when the ball touches her hands, she wastes no time firing away.
“She’s one of the better players in the league – everybody knows that,” LC coach Darren Taylor said of Loper.
The game went back and forth throughout the first half before LC guards Richelle Fenenbock and Emma Hawn each made 3-pointers in the final 1:56 to give the T-Wolves a 30-26 lead at halftime.
Three times LC extended its lead to seven points in the third quarter. But too many fouls and too many turnovers ultimately tripped up LC.
A basket by Kandice McArthur gave PF the lead at 42-40 with 7:01 remaining. The Trojans inched ahead at 50-44 before LC mounted a mini-rally.
A 3-pointer by Fenenbock, who had a team-high 19 points, pulled LC even at 50-all with 2:40 to go. But the Trojans regained form. Loper made 4 of 4 foul shots in the final minute to thwart LC’s rally.
“We didn’t take care of the ball when we had the lead,” Taylor said, alluding to the third quarter. “Ballhandling was suspect by all five players, not just the guards. Posts had trouble getting it out to the guards.”
While Taylor thought his posts, especially Baker, were roughed up with no fouls called, he gave credit to PF.
“I’ve got to tip my hat to Post Falls. They played hard and they played hard on the defensive end,” Taylor said.
Johnson praised his team for limiting its turnovers. The Trojans had 11 to LC’s 21.
“Against Lake City, a lot of their offense comes out of their pressure defense,” Johnson said. “I thought we handled that much better.”
Loper was asked if perhaps she should be starting instead of coming off the bench. She didn’t flinch.
“Actually, I like coming off the bench better because when you come off the bench you can see what you need to do and then I go in there and do it,” Loper said.