Lakeland almost pulls off upset

What’s more disappointing, to be in an embarrassing 17-point hole or to find a way to dig out, take a brief lead and have a chance to win in regulation before falling in overtime?

Ask the Lakeland High girls basketball team. That’s exactly what happened to the Hawks in a 62-55 loss to No. 1 Bonneville in a State 4A tournament semifinal Friday at Mountain View High School in Meridian.

Lakeland (16-8) will try to regroup this morning when it meets Jerome (21-5) to decide third place. Tipoff is at 10 PST.

Bonneville (23-2) will meet defending state champ Middleton (19-6) in the title game.

Bonneville 62, Lakeland 55 (OT): The Hawks found themselves trailing 23-6 halfway through the second quarter.

Behind back-to-back 3-pointers by seldom-used Megan Ranberg and Kari Rucker, Lakeland managed to pull within 32-21 by halftime.

Bonneville used two quick baskets to open the third quarter to push the advantage to 16 points. But the Hawks started chipping away. A tip-in by Katie Imthurn pulled Lakeland within 39-34 with 1:43 to go in the period, and the margin stayed at four going into the final quarter.

Bonneville tried to take the air out of the ball with 3:28 remaining, but Lakeland turned up the defensive intensity.

A layup by Camille Reynolds off a steal by Ali Whitted got Lakeland within 49-48 with 2:09 left.

Another defensive stop gave Lakeland the ball back, and Rucker got inside to give Lakeland its first lead, 50-49, with 48 seconds to go.

Emily Stecker extended Lakeland’s lead to 51-49 just 3 seconds later by making 1 of 2 foul shots.

The Bees tied it at 51 when Makayla Keck made two foul shots.

Lakeland had a chance for a winning basket, but Whitted’s 3-footer rolled off and time expired.

The Bees finally started attacking the basket again in overtime and the result was they made 11 of 14 foul shots.

“It was a great comeback,” Lakeland coach Steve Seymour said. “The first quarter was scary bad. We’re just hoping not to embarrass ourselves in the first quarter.”

Then all of a sudden the Hawks found themselves in a ballgame.

“We started to relax a little bit and start to get into a little bit of a flow,” Seymour said. “I don’t know that we thought we’d win or go into overtime, but we were just trying to get back in it.”

Reynolds, Lakeland’s leading scorer through the regular season, had a rough shooting night. She didn’t score in the first half and ended with 12 points on 5-of-18 shooting. She had eight steals, but that was overshadowed by 10 turnovers.

Whitted led Lakeland with 13 points.

Mailie Garner led four Bees in double-figure scoring with 23 points on 10-of-14 shooting. She had eight rebounds to lead a 38-27 advantage.

The Bees had 31 turnovers, most of which were forced by the Hawks, who had 20 steals. Emily Stecker had seven.

State 3A

Co-IML champs Bonners Ferry and Timberlake went 0-2 at state. Bonners Ferry fell 53-49 to Kimberly and Timberlake came up short 42-36 to Fruitland.

Kimberly 53, Bonners Ferry 49: The Badgers led 28-23 at halftime, but the Bulldogs stormed back in the second half, outscoring BF 30-21.

Ashley Winkelseth led BF (15-7) with 14 points, eight rebounds and five steals. Alex Pfefferle led Kimberly with 25 points and six rebounds.

Fruitland 42, Timberlake 36: This time, the Tigers got off to a better start.

This time, Timberlake (16-8) faded as the Grizzlies rallied.

Timberlake sophomore post Cassie Thompson had a rough game, making just 2 of 12 shots for eight points. She had a team-high eight rebounds.