PF wins some confidence

Post Falls High girls basketball coach Chris Johnson half-jokingly wondered if he could trade his team’s 42-39 win over Lake City on Friday for a win in a 5A Region I tournament opener next week.

Johnson’s team needed a statement-making victory before next week, and the Trojans responded in the Inland Empire League game at The Arena.

“I wish it was a (regional tournament) game, but beating Lake City right now gives us some good momentum going into the (postseason),” said Johnson, whose team will take on LC in a regional opener next Friday at Coeur d’Alene’s Elmer Jordan Court.

“It helps our confidence level. The kids believe they can beat anybody, but until you do it, it’s still a different story.”

The Trojans (16-4 overall, 9-3 league) used a torrid shooting effort from the field in the third quarter to build a seven-point lead and then they survived a 0-for-9 start in the fourth period.

“The second half of the season we’ve had hot quarters and cold quarters,” Johnson explained. “Sometimes we’re in a better offensive flow than others. I thought we executed some pretty good stuff tonight.”

The best execution happened at the least by accident and perhaps by instinct. Coming out of a timeout, Trojans junior wing Jenny McVeigh took a pass outside the 3-point arc, turned and hit a breaking Katelyn Loper, who made the basket while being fouled. The freshman completed the three-point play that broke a 39-all tie and finished the game’s scoring with 44 seconds remaining.

“That was huge,” Johnson said. “I’d love to take credit – I’d love to say I drew that up on my whiteboard. But they saw an opportunity and they just freelanced and they worked beautifully. We’ll watch that on tape and make that regular (play).”

LC (16-3, 8-3) took a timeout with 32 seconds to go to set up a 3-point shot, but the play broke down. Finally, sophomore 6-foot-1 post Katie Baker stepped back awkwardly and fired up a 3-point attempt that didn’t have a chance.

LC coach Darren Taylor put the blame for the loss squarely on his shoulders.

“This game was completely my fault,” Taylor said. “It was terrible end-game coaching. We tried to run some stuff, but it wasn’t the right stuff at the right time. I take full responsibility for the way the game ended.”

Senior Sean Topp, one of the Trojans’ two seniors, scored a team-high 10 points.

Baker led LC with 16 points, 11 rebounds and two steals.

“I’m going to petition the commissioner and see if we can count this one as a regional victory,” Johnson laughed.