Hawks bound back, beat Bears

The host Lakeland High girls basketball team seemingly lost the 4A Region I championship twice to Moscow Tuesday night in Rathdrum.

And then they won it.

The Hawks found themselves down four points twice to the upstart Bears – with 30 seconds left in regulation and with a minute to go in overtime.

Somehow – namely, a swarming full-court press – Lakeland came back both times and senior transfer Katie Hoye won it for the Hawks, 55-54, with high kiss off the backboard.

“Oh, my gosh – it’s so exciting, especially coming from a 1A school, and bumping up to 4A, and taking a championship game into overtime,” said Hoye, who this year made the move from Post Falls Christian Academy. “This is awesome – it’s like nothing I could have imagined.”

With the victory, the Hawks (10-11) advance to the 4A state tournament, Feb. 15-17 at Timberline High in Boise.

Lakeland took a 31-25 lead into the locker room after a topsy-turvy first half that included two ties and six lead changes.

The Hawks led by as many as 10 midway through the third, but sophomore Timena Shebala’s 3-pointer from the corner pulled the Bears back to within five to end the period.

The Bears, who shot a cool 15 of 17 from the free-throw line in the game – 8 of 9 in the second half – took the lead for the first time after the break at the 3:49 mark of the fourth quarter on senior Sarah Hawley’s layup in transition.

Down four at 49-45 with less than a minute to go in regulation, Hoye pulled Lakeland to within two on a rebound and putback of a Natalie Nichols miss.

The Hawks’ press forced an immediate Moscow turnover with 32 seconds left before Hoye found sophomore post Alli Whitted open under the basket for a game-tying layup that lifted the green-and-gold portion of the 150 or so on hand off the wooden bleachers.

In overtime, Lakeland found itself down again, 54-50, before sophomore Camille Reynolds – in the middle of what was a sloppy possession for Lakeland – grabbed a loose ball, rose up and buried a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 54-53 with just more than a minute to go.

After a Moscow miss on the ensuing possession, Hoye couldn’t control the rebound, giving the ball back to the Bears with 34 seconds to go. Hoye then promptly stole the inbounds and passed to Nichols, who missed the front end of a 1-and-1 that would have tied it.

Moscow grabbed the rebound but again had trouble with the press. A traveling call gave the ball back to the Hawks, who set up a play that wasn’t supposed to go to Hoye.

But it did, and at least four Hawks touched the ball. Hoye caught a bounce pass under the basket and let it go almost straight up, at least as high as the backboard.

And it came down – swish – giving the Hawks the lead with 7 seconds to go.

Shebala got an open look at a 3-pointer with two ticks left, but it went off the back iron and the Lakeland celebration was on.

“They didn’t give up,” Lakeland coach Steve Seymour said of the Hawks. “I mean, good Lord.

“A lot of us had already assumed Moscow was going to win. I didn’t want to give up, but we were running out of options both at the end of regulation and in overtime.”

Nichols finished with a game-high 15 points. Senior Lauren Bender had 13 for the Bears, who finished the season 5-19.