Vikings charge into title game

COEUR d’ALENE — For the first six minutes of Wednesday’s semifinal, it appeared as though the Coeur d’Alene Vikings were going to cruise to victory over the Chiawana Riverhawks at the Holiday Inn Express Invitational at North Idaho College.

Despite battling back from an early 11-0 deficit, the Riverhawks were unable to hold off Coeur d’Alene as the Vikings moved on to the girls championship game with a 51-46 win.

Senior Carli Rosenthal had 22 points, eight rebounds, three assists and three steals for Coeur d’Alene (8-3), which faces Federal Way for the girls championship tonight at 7.

Federal Way advanced by defeating the Lewiston Bengals 68-57 in the other semifinal.

“It was a really intense game,” Rosenthal said. “It was a challenge for us as a young team and good to get that kind of experience. We did well enough to get the win.”

Chiawana battled back to tie the game at 23-all before the Vikings made a 5-2 run to take a 28-25 halftime lead.

“They play as good of man-to-man defense as I’ve seen,” Coeur d’Alene coach Dale Poffenroth said. “We beat a quality club today. They were ranked third in the (Washington) state before losing to Moses Lake. They’re solid and no weak link.”

Coeur d’Alene outscored Chiawana 12-4 in the third quarter, limiting the Riverhawks to one field goal in the period.

“Their kids adjusted to what we were doing in the second quarter,” Poffenroth said. “In basketball, it’s a game of runs and we knew that. It isn’t a matter that we got out to an early lead, but the run in the second half made all the difference in the world.”

Poffenroth praised the play of Rosenthal for battling double and triple coverage most of the night.

“She did a good job for us tonight,” Poffenroth said. “She’s strong enough to handle getting pressured, but she was willing to finish shots tonight instead of passing the ball.”

Kyeli Parker scored 13 points and Erin Legel had 10 points and three rebounds for Coeur d’Alene.

Hayley Hodgins scored 19 points for Chiawana, which faces Lewiston today at 1 p.m. in the third place game.

“Against Coeur d’Alene, you can’t not score the ball and expect to compete,” Chiawana coach Steve Davis said. “It hurt us a bit tonight. Once we got settled down, we shot a little bit better.”

Chiawana, which qualified for the state 4A tournament in Washington last year, returned all five starters.

“Overall, I was pleased with what happened,” Davis said. “We were able to stay in the game with them. It was a good game for us.”

Chiawana 6 19 4 17 — 46

Coeur d’Alene 14 14 12 11 — 51

CHIAWANA — Reynolds 0, Gonzales 0, Sparks 7, Ellsworth 13, Loving 0, Valdez 2, Hodgins 19, Rivard 5.

COEUR d’ALENE — Baughman 0, Orlandi 0, K. Parker 13, Legel 10, Petit 0, Rosenthal 22, S. Parker 0, Williams 6.

Federal Way 68, Lewiston 57: Talia Walton scored 24 points to lead the Eagles past the Bengals in a semifinal game.

Tisha Phillips scored 17 points for Lewiston.

Federal Way 20 14 17 17 — 68

Lewiston 11 18 11 17 — 57

FEDERAL WAY — D. Huertas-Vinning 18, A. Huertas-Vining 0, Walton 24, Jones 0, Benton 6, Belhumeur 4, Ajeto 0, Burgess 12.

LEWISTON — Schlader 7, Hansen 3, Phillips 17, Blinn 7, Fuller 15, Waters 5, Bernatz 3.

Lake City 65, Lapwai 42: Gina Mitchell scored 16 of her game-high 20 points in the second quarter as the Timberwolves defeated the Wildcats in a consolation game.

“We got out to a really slow start,” Lake City coach Royce Johnston said. “They jumped out 7-0 on us and then we went on a 25-3 run in the second quarter. We got up 33-14 at halftime and maintained the rest of the game.”

Sydney Butler set a single-game school record with 13 assists for Lake City (10-2), which faces Post Falls today at 11:30 a.m. in the fifth-place game.

Nathanee Spencer scored 19 points for Lapwai, which faces Lowry today at 10 a.m. in the seventh-place game.

Lake City 5 28 16 16 — 65

Lapwai 7 7 14 14 — 42

LAKE CITY — J. Butler 2, S. Butler 6, Kacalek 10, Lewis 11, Rowe 11, Ball 2, Kerr 3, Mitchell 20, Heidenreich 0.

LAPWAI — Spencer 19, Mitchell 0, Five Thunders 0, Higheagle 10, Samuels 7, Wilson 2, Picard 2, Wilhelm 2.

Post Falls 66, Lowry 19: Tori Davenport scored 13 points as the Trojans defeated the Buckaroos in a consolation game.

Lexi Smith scored 11 points for Post Falls.

Post Falls 16 23 15 12 — 66

Lowry 8 4 6 1 — 19

POST FALLS — Tennison 6, King 4, Gonzales 2, Litalien 9, Clancy 6, Davenport 13, Scott 0, Franklin 1, Failor 6, Smith 11, Perrin 8.

LOWRY — Higbee 0, Herrera 0, Gonzalez 2, Dennis 0, Johnson 0, Legarza 7, Dufferena 3, Guerrero 4, Bernard 0, Neu 0, Ingram 0, Etcheverry 2.

Lake City 78, Priest River 63: Brady Smith and Mark Smyly scored 15 points apiece as the Timberwolves defeated the Spartans in the Holiday Inn Express Invitational.

“We executed our offense really well,” Lake City coach Jim Winger said. “Priest River shoots the ball really well. I was very pleased with all aspects of our game tonight. It was a good effort by our entire team.”

Max Salesky scored 20 points for Priest River.

Lake City 13 22 18 25 —78

Priest River 16 11 15 21 —63

LAKE CITY — Smith 15, Wheelock 13, Carlson 13, Turner 4, Hartz 8, Smyly 15, Guice 10.

PRIEST RIVER — Barrett 11, K. Peterson 2, Douglas 10, Bach 0, Salesky 20, T. Peterson 0, Holbrook 17, Mortenson 3.

Coeur d’Alene 78, Chiawana 73: Junior Deon Watson scored 17 of his game-high 34 points in the fourth quarter as the Vikings rallied to defeat the Riverhawks.

“We dug ourselves a nine-point deficit in the third quarter,” Coeur d’Alene assistant coach Steve Bourgard said. “It was a good character builder to be down nine points to a team as good as they were. Our kids answered the bell in the fourth quarter.”

Chad Chalich scored 18 points for Coeur d’Alene (5-3), which faces Lake Stevens today at 5:30 p.m.

Stephen Walter scored 25 points for Chiawana, which faces Lake City today at 4 p.m.

Coeur d’Alene 14 14 19 31 — 78

Chiawana 13 15 20 25 — 73

COEUR d’ALENE — Dunn 2, Chalich 18, Roletto 0, Loy 12, Higbie 5, Baracco 7, Watson 34.

CHIAWANA — Downing 10, Lopaya 5, Walter 25, Zamora 9, Graff 3, Smith 19, Knight 2, Adamson 0, DeWitt 0.

Post Falls 74, Lake Stevens 44: Luke Thoreson scored 15 points to lead the Trojans past the Vikings.

“I thought we showed good effort as a team,” Post Falls coach Mike McLean said. “I was very pleased with our guys off the bench. Kyle (English) had a great game off the bench with six assists and Luke (Thoreson) made some great decisions. It shows how much our depth helped us tonight.”

Matt Lickfold scored 12 points for Post Falls (8-0), which faces Priest River today at 2:30 p.m.

Post Falls 21 20 21 12 — 74

Lake Stevens 10 12 13 9 — 44

POST FALLS — English 11, Gonzales 0, Hill 10, Anderson 7, Valente 4, Thoreson 15, Colbert 8, Benner 6, Hillman 0, Lickfold 12, Shelton 3.

LAKE STEVENS — Nelson 3, Tomson 13, Gasca 0, Dolphin 0, Dodge 12, Paulson 0, Vandegrift 4, Eklund 8, Smith 0, Stoer 4.