Beaten at the buzzer

LEWISTON - The waning moments of Tuesday night's 5A Region 1 girls basketball championship game seemed like "the longest 10 seconds of my life," Lake City coach Royce Johnston said.

To nearly everyone else in Booth Hall, it seemed like a blur.

After Lake City's Jansen Butler sank a 3-point shot to tie the game with 11 seconds left, Lewiston rushed the ball up the floor and Tanis Fuller scored at the buzzer to lift the third-ranked Bengals to a wild 52-50 victory over the fifth-ranked Timberwolves and a second straight regional championship on their home court.

As the Bengals celebrated a return trip to state at midcourt, the Timberwolves walked the length of the floor, through the bedlam, back to their bench.

"How can you be disappointed when you lay it on the line, and you play with the heart we did?" Johnston said. "Tonight we hoped for a better outcome, but it wasn't from a lack of effort, it wasn't from a lack of execution, it wasn't that we lost our composure."

Lewiston (19-3), which prior to last year hadn't been to state since 1989, advances to state Feb. 17-19 at the Idaho Center in Nampa. The Bengals will open Feb. 17 at 12:15 p.m. PST against the fifth-place finisher from the District 3 tournament.

Lake City (16-6) travels to fourth-ranked Coeur d'Alene (17-5) on Friday at 7 p.m. to decide the region's second berth to state. Coeur d'Alene eliminated Post Falls 75-52 on Tuesday night. Lake City beat Coeur d'Alene 41-35 in the first round last Friday in Lewiston.

Coeur d'Alene beat Lewiston in last year's state title game.

Lake City trailed 47-39 after Karlee Wilson's second 3-pointer of the fourth quarter capped an 18-3 Lewiston run and prompted a T-Wolf timeout with 3:34 left.

After the timeout, Lake City's Dailyn Ball scored a 3-point play, then fed Alyssa Kacalek for a 3-pointer to pull the Timberwolves with 47-45 with 2:46 left.

Chelsea Waters made two free throws for Lewiston, but Butler's foul line jumper made it a two-point game again.

Lake City had to foul four more times before the Bengals were in the bonus and when they did, Wilson missed the front end of a one-and-one with 56.3 seconds left.

Lake City's Katie Rowe cut backdoor for a pass, but Savannah Blinn blocked the shot. Waters rebounded and was eventually fouled, and sank 1 of 2 free throws with 23.3 seconds left.

Butler popped out behind a nice screen and drained the 3 from the top of the key to tie the game. Waters inbounded to Wilson, who rushed the ball up the floor and passed to Fuller at the left elbow. Fuller drove to the basket around a screen from Blinn and banked in a driving layin with less than 2 seconds left. Lake City was out of timeouts, and time ran out.

"Oh my gosh, I don't even remember it," Fuller said of the final play. "Pure instinct. I just thought, get the ball, and I got it. Savannah sealed the girl, and it went in."

Lewiston eschewed a timeout, though it had three remaining.

"I think every coach knows their team, and they go by their gut," Lewiston coach Pat Teichmer said. "We're a fast-break team; we like to run, and I believed all the kids I had on the floor were going to make a shot if they got a chance, and it couldn't have been a better kid to take my last shot. I think she's the league MVP; she's amazing. She does everything for us, and she's our leader. So I wasn't surprised when it went in."

Sydney Butler scored 12 points, Kacalek and Jansen Butler 11 each for Lake City. The Timberwolves played a sagging zone defense against the taller Bengals, with Ball and Rowe doing most of the dirty work underneath. Ball finished with seven points and eight rebounds, and Rowe had five points and 10 boards.

"I thought we controlled the tempo a lot," Johnston said. "They got maybe a couple too many easy baskets, but other than that, it was a dogfight, back and forth, from the tip. ... It was a great game. For a district championship, I don't think it could have been a better game. We don't hang our head after that one, for sure."

The 6-3 Blinn, headed to Gonzaga to play volleyball in the fall, finished with 17 points, nine rebounds and two blocked shots. Wilson hit all three of her 3s and scored nine of her 11 points in the second half. Fuller added 10 points.

Lake City put pressure on Lewiston's defense with its guards driving to the basket off the weave out front. Ball drew Blinn's third foul early in the third quarter, and her two free throws tied the game at 26. Wilson hit a 3, but the T-Wolves went on a 10-0 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Rowe, for a 36-29 lead midway through the quarter, hastening the return of Blinn. With her back on the floor, Lewiston scored 18 of the next 21 points.

"They're really good," Teichmer said of Lake City. "They're surprising because they're not big, but their girls hit shot after shot when they needed to, and they're quick enough to make them difficult to guard. They thought their best chance to win was packing a zone. I don't blame them. It was a good tactic; tonight we were one basket better."

Lake City 9 15 12 14 - 50

Lewiston 8 18 9 17 - 52

LAKE CITY - J. Butler 11, S. Butler 12, Kacalek 11, Lewis 2, Rowe 5, Ball 7, Kerr 0, Mitchell 2.

LEWISTON - Wilson 11, Hansen 3, Johnson 0, Phillips 2, Blinn 17, Fuller 10, Waters 9.