5A crown is a lock
NAMPA, Idaho – The State 5A girls basketball championship is guaranteed to be going back to North Idaho.
More specifically, it’s going back to Kootenai County. Even more specifically, it’s headed to the town where the county seat is located.
Coeur d’Alene and Lake City assured that with victories Friday in physical semifinals that probably could have benefited from football helmets.
No. 1-ranked Coeur d’Alene overwhelmed 2006 4A state champ Vallivue of Caldwell 61-44 after Lake City used what’s become its bread and butter, a 2-3 zone, to stop Twin Falls 45-36 at the Idaho Center.
The Vikings (22-2) and Timberwolves (22-4) will face off in a game that might be akin to a Fight for the Fish showdown save the sound effects but with a much more desired prize. Tipoff tonight is at 7 PST. The game can be heard live on KVNI (1080 AM) and will be Webcast on idahosports.com.
The Vikings are in the title game for a second straight year. And the all-North Idaho showdown is the first in the big-school division since 1984 when Sandpoint and Coeur d’Alene met in the then A-1 final.
Both CdA coach Dale Poffenroth and LC coach Darren Taylor are looking forward to the matchup tonight.
“It’s fitting,” Poffenroth said. “They’ve got a good ballclub, they’re doing really well. They were on the brink of elimination not too long ago.”
Poffenroth said LC deserves to be playing for the title.
“They’re better than the (other) teams down here,” Poffenroth said.
LC is playing in its fourth title game. It won a championship the first year it was open (1994-95).
CdA is playing in its third final since winning in 2000. The Vikings have won five titles.
CdA 61, Vallivue 44: This game had the potential of an upset or a blowout. The Vikings chose the latter.
The Falcons stayed within a few boat lengths of the faster Vikings for a half. Ultimately, CdA’s quickness in transition left Vallivue in the Vikings’ wake.
The Vikings used a 10-0 run in the third quarter to pull away from the Falcons. It carried over into the fourth quarter as the lead swelled to 20 points, at 57-37, with about 4 minutes to go.
Vallivue coach Stu Sells thought his bench did a good job in the first half of keeping the game close after junior Callie Kautzman, a starter last year for 5A state champ Centennial, got into foul trouble.
“I wasn’t disappointed at all going into halftime,” said Sells, whose team trailed 33-26 at intermission. “I thought we had survived an opportunity where we could have gotten put away a little bit early.”
As it turned out it was only delaying the inevitable.
Vallivue (18-7) committed 25 turnovers, most of which were caused by CdA.
“I do give Coeur d’Alene a lot of credit because we typically don’t turn the ball over that much,” Sells said. “They put a different type of pressure on us, forcing us to have to change our game plan a little bit. (They’re) an excellent team. The team overall has great athleticism and they run the floor well. They play seasoned even though they’re pretty young still.”
Like sophomore Kama Griffitts did on Thursday, CdA senior forward Jenna DeLong got into foul trouble in the first half and had to sit. As Griffitts did the night before, DeLong responded in the final two quarters, scoring 13 of her co-team-high 16 points – more than double her season average (seven).
Junior post Deanna Dotts, who missed nine games in the middle of the season with a broken finger, continued to play well at state. Dotts tied DeLong for game-high honors with 16 points, but she also had eight rebounds, six steals and five blocked shots.
“Dotts is playing really, really well,” Poffenroth said. “She’s playing better than anybody I’ve seen in a long time.”
CdA has reached the next-to-last step of its goals.
“We’re where we started out the season to be and now we just have to finish it,” Poffenroth said. “Last year we came close but we couldn’t quite get over the top.”
Dotts expects a competitive final.
“It’s going to be interesting because we each get up for each other anyway,” Dotts said. “Now it’s the state title game. There’s going to be a little bit of pressure but you just have to think of it as a normal game – going home, playing streetball, in front of a hometown crowd. It’s going to be a great game. It makes it that much more special (playing your rival). I think it’s going to make it special for both of us. The title’s coming home to North Idaho either way.”
LC 45, Twin Falls 36: T-Wolves sophomore post Katie Baker celebrates a birthday today. She thinks there wouldn’t be anything sweeter, for her 16th birthday, than a state title.
For a second straight game the 6-foot-1 Baker showed why she’s one of the top players in the state by scoring a game-high 18 points to go with 10 rebounds and two blocked shots.
For a half, though, 5A basketball was put back a few decades – at least offensively. Neither team could find an offensive rhythm as LC took a 14-13 lead into halftime.
Both teams played tenacious defense throughout. Finally midway through the fourth quarter the T-Wolves started to separate themselves.
Kelly Vriesman hit a 3-pointer to pull TF within 34-33 with 3:42 to play. But LC used a 7-0 spurt to take a 41-33 lead with 1:35 left. The game was over.
“When you play a 2-3 (zone) and then we don’t run offense you get that type of game,” Taylor said. “So it was a pretty ugly first half. Maybe we were wishing we were in the state title game (already). They know, but it’s hard to process that you need 32 minutes of hard work to get there.”
TF coach Joe Shepard praised the play of both teams on defense.
“Both teams played very good defense,” Shepard said. “They pressured us and kept us away from the basket. We had a hard time getting into our offense. Down the stretch they got a lot of offensive rebounds and putbacks. They converted them plus they hit their free throws.”
LC received key contributions from guards Richelle Fenenbock and Katie Hawn. Hawn, in fact, had perhaps the gutsiest effort of the game after taking an elbow over her left eyebrow and being knocked loopy for a few minutes. She had to leave the game. Trainers stopped the bleeding for a gash that will ultimately require stitches (after state). Hawn returned a few minutes later.
The guards combined for 14 points and nine steals.
Baker is looking forward to her birthday. She’s knows what the best present would be.
“If we win,” Baker started to say before stopping herself in mid sentence. “When we win (Saturday) that would just be it.”