Scheffelmaier’s effort sends Kootenai to state

Kootenai had a lot on the line against Lakeside on Saturday in the final game of the 1A District I girls basketball tournament.

Even though the Warriors had beaten the Knights four times already this season, they had also just suffered an upset at the hands of Wallace in Friday’s championship game

Another loss would end the season for the North Star League champs.

Thanks to some end-of-regulation heroics from senior point guard Cassie Scheffelmaier, Kootenai lived to fight another day, holding off Lakeside’s furious second-half charge and defeating the Knights 49-43 in overtime to advance to the state tournament in Nampa.

The Warriors (18-3) open the tournament on Wednesday against North Gem (14-7), which knocked off Kootenai 42-33 in the first round last season.

Scheffelmaier, who rattled in a 3-pointer with 10 seconds left to send Saturday’s game into overtime and finished with a game-high 23 points, said she was ready for the challenge when Warriors coach Doug Napierala called her number.

“At the end? I wanted it,” said Scheffelmaier, holding one of the Warrior-red roses presented to her and her teammates after the victory. “I was shaking a little bit, but I knew we needed a three and I wanted to be the one to shoot it.

“If it was going to be my last one, I’d rather miss it than let somebody else do it … it felt good.”

Kootenai had its way in a 25-14 first half, shooting 46 percent on 12 of 26 from the floor, holding Lakeside to just 30 percent shooting and forcing 12 Knights turnovers.

The third quarter, however, was a different story as Lakeside committed just one giveaway, held Kootenai to 0-for-14 shooting and scored 16 points to take its first lead of the game, 29-28 at the end of the period.

The fourth quarter was tight – four ties and two lead changes – and senior guard Sara Gauthier gave the Knights a three-point lead, hitting the second of two foul shots with 24 seconds left.

That’s when Napierala, who said he was thinking, “this isn’t good” after how poorly his team had played in the second half, signaled for a timeout and drew up the plan.

“We came out of the timeout and set up a 3 for Cassie,” Napierala said. “We set up against a zone that he was in, and he came out man. I thought they did a great job of adjusting and Cassie getting open and, hey, clutch, she knocked it down.”

Lakeside coach Ron Miller, who said after the game that he “feels good” going into next year, returning four of five starters, remained upbeat despite the heartbreaking loss.

“The kids really responded at halftime,” Miller said. “They’re young, and I think they were a little nervous in the first half and got a little down, but, at halftime, they were either just tired enough, or whatever, that they came out in the third quarter and played extremely well.

“They had every chance to win, and, when maybe the most valuable player in the league has to make a last-second shot to send the game into overtime with a hand in her face and she makes it, you can’t fault the effort of my kids – they busted their butts.”

Sophomore Saundra Curley had 13 points and freshman Ruth Brunell had 11 for the Knights, who finish the season with an 8-13 record.