Defense propels Cd'A girls back to state
COEUR d'ALENE - Any suspense leading up to Friday night's 5A Region 1 girls basketball tournament second-place game - with the winner going to state and the loser done for the season - disappeared before the first quarter was over.
Coeur d'Alene scored the game's first 11 points and never looked back, leading by 26 points en route to a 59-38 victory over visiting Lake City at Elmer Jordan Court.
"Oh my gosh, there was so much pressure coming in," said Coeur d'Alene senior guard Dayna Drager, who had 10 points, two steals and two assists. "We tried to focus on defense. Last game they made 30 points off their 3s, and we knew, stop their 3s, and just focus on defense the whole time and that will run the rest of the game."
Coeur d'Alene (19-4), the two-time defending state champions, will play Boise (22-1) in the first round Thursday at 2 p.m. PST at the Idaho Center in Nampa. Boise lost to Centennial (21-2) 44-39 in the District 3 championship game Friday night.
Lake City, which finished 15-8, again had no answer for Carli Rosenthal, Coeur d'Alene's 6-foot-3 junior post. Rosenthal scored the game's first six points, hit her first seven shots from the floor, and scored 12 of her 16 points in the first half. She finished 8 of 10 from the floor and also had six rebounds and three assists as the Vikings passed the ball well.
Freshman post Kendalyn Brainard added 13 points, five rebounds and two assists for the Vikings. Amanda Buttrey had seven points and three steals, Heather Baughman three assists and two steals.
"We bounced back pretty well" from Tuesday's loss at Lewiston in the regional title game, Coeur d'Alene coach Dale Poffenroth said. "There never was really any doubt as to who was going to win (tonight). ... the kids didn't want to let anything get in their way, and made sure they got where they needed to go. The idea was to play defense, and 14 points in the first half was pretty good defense."
Lake City missed its first six shots, committed 13 turnovers in the first half, and finished with 23 turnovers. Coeur d'Alene jumped out to leads of 15-2 and 17-4 early in the second quarter, and Drager's baseline jumper with six seconds left in the half gave Coeur d'Alene a 29-14 halftime lead.
"If you understand matchups, you understand our difficulty against them," said Lake City coach Royce Johnston, who has no starter taller than 5-10. "Carli was good tonight ... they were tough tonight. We just have a hard time rebounding the ball and getting second shots against them. We didn't get off to a very good start, and it just kind of snowballed after that."
Junior Sydney Butler had 15 points and four assists for Lake City, which has no seniors on the roster. Junior Dailyn Ball added 11 points.
Lake City 2 12 10 14 - 38
Coeur d'Alene 11 18 19 11 - 59
LAKE CITY - J. Butler 0, S. Butler 15, Smith 3, Kacalek 0, Lewis 0, Rowe 3, Ball 11, Kerr 0, Mitchell 6.
COEUR d'ALENE - Baughman 2, Buttrey 7, Drager 10, Orlandi 0, Williams 0, Parker 4, Legel 5, Petit 2, Rosenthal 16, Brainard 13, Palmer 0.