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Coeur d'Alene girls cruise in opener

by JASON ELLIOTT
Sports Writer | December 29, 2010 8:00 PM

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<p>Priest River's Jaden Barrett puts up one of three consecutive three-point shots in the fourth quarter against Coeur d'Alene.</p>

COEUR d'ALENE - Both girls basketball teams were trying to find an identity in the quarterfinals of the Holiday Inn Express Invitational on Tuesday night.

While the Coeur d'Alene Vikings may have started to find one, the Lowry Buckaroos are still searching for one following a 65-21 loss to the defending Idaho state 5A champions at Christianson Gymnasium.

Coeur d'Alene freshman Sydney Williams scored eight of her 16 points in the first quarter as the Vikings jumped out to a 17-4 lead. Junior Erin Legel hit a 3-pointer near the end of the frame as she scored eight points off the bench for Coeur d'Alene.

"We flopped them in the starting lineup tonight," Coeur d'Alene coach Dale Poffenroth said. "We'd been starting Legel, but went with Williams instead because we hadn't been getting much scoring off the bench. Sydney responded well in the start and Erin responded off the bench. It really worked out well for us tonight."

Lowry, which won the state 4A title in Nevada last year, returned four starters from last year's team, with the starting post from that squad moving to Oklahoma.

"We're still trying to figure out our starting lineup," Smith said. "We're lacking in height and facing a team like Coeur d'Alene, it hurt us tonight. This kind of a game is going to make us really do our homework."

Coeur d'Alene held Lowry to nine field goals in the game as the Vikings pressed the Buckaroos into a 37-8 halftime deficit.

“We had to have a perfect game tonight to beat them,” Lowry coach Jack Smith said. “They took us out of our press and their post play hurt us. Our inability to hit shots in the first half kind of broke our spirits.”

Coeur d’Alene advances to face Chiawana of Pasco, Wash., which defeated Post Falls 47-43 in another quarterfinal on Tuesday.

“They’re about the same size as us,” Poffenroth said. “But they’re bigger than us in some spots and like to move the ball.”

Former Lakeland High player Smith will coach Lowry vs. Post Falls in a consolation game at 11:30 a.m.

“I’ll probably have some memories of playing them as we’re warming up,” Smith said. “Our gyms were so small, we used to have to play here at NIC. It’s going to be really neat to play them again.”

Carli Rosenthal had 16 points for Coeur d’Alene (7-3).

Rachelle Dennis scored 10 points for Lowry.

Lowry 4 4 8 5—21

Coeur d’Alene 17 20 20 8—65

LOWRY — Herrera 2, Dennis 10, Johnson 0, Legarza 0, Dufurrena 4, Guerrero 0, Neu 0, Ingram 3, Etcheverry 2.

COEUR d’ALENE — Baughmann 2, Sumner 0, Chalich 4, Orlandi 4, K. Parker 5, Legel 8, Petit 2, Rosenthal 16, S. Parker 0, Watson 4, Williams 16, Tackett 4.

Chiawana 47, Post Falls 43: Hayley Hodgins scored 19 points to lead the Riverhawks past the Trojans in a quarterfinal game at the Holiday Inn Express Invitational.

Brooke Litalien scored 17 points for Post Falls (5-5), which faces Lowry today at 11:45 a.m. in a consolation game.

Post Falls 5 11 14 13 — 43

Chiawana 12 15 11 9 — 47

POST FALLS — Waller 0, Tennison 4, King 4, Franklin 0, Gonzales 0, Davenport 9, Litalien 17, Clancy 0, Scott 0, Failor 8.

CHIAWANA — Reynolds 3, B. Gonzales 4, J. Gonzales 0, Sparks 2, Ellsworth 7, Loving 4, Valdez 2, Hodgins 19, Rivard 6.

Lewiston 62, Lapwai 56: Savannah Blinn and Tanis Fuller scored 16 points apiece as the Bengals outscored the Wildcats 21-13 in the fourth quarter for the win.

Lapwai sophomore Nathanee Spencer scored 22 points for Lapwai, which faces Lake City today at 10 a.m. in a consolation game.

Lewiston will face Federal Way today at 1 p.m. in a semifinal game.

Lewiston 15 14 13 21 — 62

Lapwai 14 13 16 13 — 56

LEWISTON — Wilson 3, Bernatz 0, Schlader 1, Hansen 0, Johnson 2, Phillips 3, Blinn 22, Fuller 22, Waters 10.

LAPWAI — Spencer 22, Mitchell 5, Five Thunders 7, Oatman 0, Higheagle 5, Samuels 5, Picard 6, Wilhelm 2.

Post Falls 76, Chiawana 62: Marcus Colbert a game-high 25 points and four assists as the top-ranked Trojans defeated the Riverhawks in their opening day matchup in the Holiday Inn Express Invitational.

“It was a good win for us,” Post Falls coach Mike McLean said. “In the first half, they took it to us with their physicality. In the second half, we took advantage of it. At times, we looked like a good team, others it looked like we’re still learning.”

Connor Hill had 14 points and five assists and Matt Lickfold added 12 points for Post Falls (7-0), which faces Lake Stevens on Wednesday.

Michael Hillman had 10 rebounds and five points for Post Falls.

Chiawana 17 14 17 14 — 62

Post Falls 16 22 16 22 — 76

CHIAWANA — Downing 22, Lopaya 2, Perez 2, Walter 12, Zamora 2, Graff 0, Smith 11, Knight 4, Adamson 0, Dewitt 5.

POST FALLS — English 4, Gonzales 7, Hill 14, Anderson 0, Valente 3, Thoreson 6, Colbert 25, Hillman 5, Lickfold 12.

Priest River 61, Coeur d’Alene 54: Senior Jaden Barrett scored 12 of his team-high 17 points in the fourth quarter as the Spartans held off the Vikings at Christianson Gymnasium.

Deon Watson scored 22 points and Chad Chalich had 18 points for Coeur d’Alene (4-3), which faces Chiawana today at 5:30 p.m.

Max Salesky scored 15 points for Priest River (6-1), which faces Lake City today at 4 p.m.

Priest River 13 16 8 24 — 61

Coeur d’Alene 11 14 10 19 — 54

PRIEST RIVER — Barrett 17, Peterson 0, Douglas 4, Bach 10, Salesky 15, Peterson 2, Holbrook 5, Mortenson 5.

COEUR d’ALENE — Dunn 0, Chalich 18, Roletto 0, Loy 3, Higbie 4, Baracco 7, Watson 22.