Lake City girls down Post Falls

COEUR d'ALENE - When two rivals collide on the court, the chances of the game coming down to what happens at the foul line increases with each possession.

Lake City shot 20 of 24 from the free-throw line and Sydney Butler and Katie Rowe had 12 points apiece as the Lake City Timberwolves won their 5A Inland Empire League opener, 45-34 over the Post Falls Trojans on Saturday.

“It was a tough league battle,” Lake City coach Royce Johnston said. “I thought we did a good job of containing (Tori) Davenport on the ball.”

Lake City (6-1, 1-0 5A IEL) senior guard Sydney Butler went over the 1,000-point mark, finishing the game with 12 points and five steals. She now has 1,001 career points.

“It feels really good,” Butler said. “I’ve been playing since I was a freshman. I really didn’t know I was that close, but feel that the hard work paid off.”

Butler, who felt she’d been struggling of late, contacted Johnston on Saturday morning to get some extra shooting in before the game.

“She went in to work on her free-throw shooting,” Johnston said. “At the start of the day, she needed 11 points to go over 1,000 and hit two free throws late that were big. It’s quite the accomplishment for her. I’m very proud of her. She deserves it and has worked hard for it.”

Rowe went 10 of 12 from the free-throw line for Lake City. She also grabbed seven rebounds and four blocked shots.

“We talked a bit about the importance of winning league games,” Johnston said. “We need to be ready to play every night. With a game like this, we needed to find a way to win. I thought we played hard the entire game on defense.”

Brooke Litalien put the Trojans within a 34-33 deficit early in the fourth quarter, but had the Timberwolves close out the game on a 11-1 run.

“Their offensive rebounds down the stretch hurt us tonight,” Post Falls coach Chris Johnson said. “We were right there with them at halftime. We’re anxious to play them again.”

Katie King, who missed 10 days following a concussion, scored nine points to lead Post Falls (2-4, 0-2).

Post Falls will host Moses Lake on Tuesday.

Lake City hosts Clarkston on Friday.

Post Falls 10 6 12 6 — 34

Lake City 9 9 14 13 — 45

POST FALLS — Waller 0, Tennison 3, King 9, Franklin 2, Gonzales 0, Davenport 6, Litalien 5, Clancy 1, Failor 8.

LAKE CITY — S. Butler 12, Kacalek 0, Lewis 0, Smith 2, Rowe 12, Ball 10, Kerr 2, Mitchell 7.