All aboard for Lewiston

COEUR d'ALENE - The Lewiston High girls basketball team notched a well-deserved victory at Elmer Jordan Court on Tuesday night - followed by another win just after the game in an old training room. The fourth-ranked Bengals upset the second-ranked Coeur d'Alene Vikings 45-42 to create a share of the 5A Inland Empire League title between the two teams. Moments later, in a P.E. storage room off the gym, Lewiston principal Bob Donaldson correctly called "tails" and the Bengals won the coin flip, giving them the No. 1 seed. Lewiston (17-2, 4-2 5A IEL) will host the first night of the tournament on Friday at Booth Hall, and will play all its regional tourney games at home. "Two for two in one night," Coeur d'Alene coach Dale Poffenroth said on his way out of the room. "We'll take it, and we're glad everybody has to drive down and visit our town," Lewiston coach Pat Teichmer said. "That was a huge coin flip, but my kids gave themselves a chance for a coin flip by coming ready to play tonight. ... Our mission was to get a piece of the title, and whatever luck happens, happens." No. 2 seed Coeur d'Alene (17-3), which had won five straight league titles outright, will play No. 3 Lake City (14-6, 2-4) on Friday at 5:45 p.m. in Lewiston. The Bengals will play No. 4 Post Falls (13-7, 2-4) in the second game at 7:30. Nicole Redd had 14 points, 6-foot-3 Savannah Blinn blocked six shots and freshman Karlee Wilson had 13 points and five steals for Lewiston, which jumped into the lead early and led most of the way. It's the first league title for Lewiston since 1997, when the Bengals shared the IEL title with Lake City. Lewiston's last trip to state was in 1989. "I was very pleased with our defensive effort," Teichmer said. "They're tough to match up with. We mixed around a little zone early, and that wasn't as effective as we were hoping, so we just went straight man and just tried to do our best. They're good - and tonight we were a little better." Coeur d'Alene committed 24 turnovers - 16 in the first half - and shot 12 for 40 (30 percent) from the field. "We never really got into synch," Poffenroth said. "They played good defense, they wanted the game pretty badly ... and we awful nonchalant." Carli Rosenthal had 13 points and 14 rebounds for Coeur d'Alene. Dayna Drager added 13 points, five rebounds and three assists. Lewiston jumped out to a 14-7 lead late in the first quarter as Wilson scored five straight points. The Bengals led by two at halftime, but baskets from Kendalyn Brainard and Rosenthal put Coeur d'Alene up 24-22 with 5:15 left in the third quarter. Wilson stole the inbounds pass to start the fourth quarter and raced in for a layup and a 34-29 lead. Wilson's cross-court pass set up a 3-pointer by Redd from the left wing to make it 40-33 Lewiston with 3:12 left. Coeur d'Alene inched within 40-39 on six free throws by Drager. But Lewiston made 5 of 6 from the line over the last 46.7 seconds to hold off the two-time defending state champs. "They had more to gain than we did," Poffenroth said. "Nothing happened tonight, other than we have to go to Lewiston, because the coin rolled the wrong way. We were going to play Lake City no matter what happened, and they were going to play Post Falls." Lewiston 14 8 10 13 - 45 Coeur d'Alene 9 11 9 13 - 42 LEWISTON - Kramer 5, Wilson 13, Baldwin 0, Redd 14, Johnson 3, Blinn 2, Fuller 8. COEUR d'ALENE - Baughman 2, Buttrey 6, Drager 13, Orlandi 0, Parker 0, Legel 0, Rosenthal 13, Brainard 8.