Post Falls shows off its depth
<p>Lake City High's Tiegan Horton goes up for a shot against the Post Falls during the second half on Thursday.</p>
<p>Post Falls High's Brook Latalien, right, and Lexi Smith close in on Jaecie Wilson from Lake City High as she tries to move the ball up court in the second half Thursday night at Coeur d'Alene.</p>
COEUR d'ALENE - It's not exactly true that, in rolling to a 52-21 victory over Lake City on Thursday night, the Post Falls High girls basketball team didn't miss senior point guard Katie King, who missed the game due to illness.
"Yeah, we did," said Post Falls coach Marc Allert, alluding to the many ways King contributes to the Trojans' success.
More accurately, without King on the floor, several other players stepped up in Post Falls' second one-sided 5A Inland Empire League victory in three days.
All nine players scored for the Trojans (4-0, 2-0 5A IEL), led by Brooke Litalien's nine points. Lexi Smith hit a couple of 3-pointers in the first half and added eight points. Whitney Gonzales, who got the start Thursday night, had seven points, five rebounds, three steals and an assist. Shayna Allert had four rebounds, two steals and two assists off the bench, and Priscilla Perrin had six points and six rebounds off the bench.
“Our bench is deep enough — obviously she (King) is a big part of what we do,” Allert said. “But some other kids stepped up. I thought Shayna came in and played real well in the first half and got us going. Brooke stepped in and runs the point for us ... actually we’ve got some kids coming off the bench that are probably our best defensive players. We really don’t lose much when they come into the game. I’ve got no problem putting any of them in at this point. It’s going to help us in the long run.”
With Litalien sliding over to the point, Post Falls scored the game’s first 12 points and never looked back. The Trojans led 38-10 at halftime, 49-18 after three quarters, and the fourth quarter was played with a running clock as Post Falls had a 30-point lead.
Lake City (4-1, 0-1) committed 21 turnovers in the first half, 29 for the game. Post Falls pressed for most of the first half, and along with pressure in its half-court defense, the Timberwolves struggled to get much going offensively. Lake City got up just 12 shots in the first half, making two, and finished 5 of 26 from the floor for the game.
“They’re very physical, they’re very athletic, and their pressure really got to us,” first-year Lake City coach Bryan Kelly said of Post Falls. “It’s a learning experience for us. They’re so athletic, and they can press you full court, and their run-and-jump really gets you because they can trap and if you’re not ready for it, it causes problems.”
Madi Farrell led Lake City with eight points, five rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot. The T-Wolves made just 11 of 26 free throws.
Post Falls is much more experienced, with three starters back and several other reserves returning. Meanwhile, Kelly has been Lake City’s coach for barely a month.
“I’m proud of my girls — they battled back,” Kelly said. “Our goal is just to keep getting better.”
Allert noticed.
“I thought in the second half, Lake City outplayed us,” Allert said. “They came out and played harder than we did. Bryan’s doing a good job with those kids; they’re going to keep getting better and better.”
On Saturday, Post Falls travels to Kamiakin High in Kennewick, Wash., and Lake City hosts Mead.
Post Falls 18 20 11 3 — 52
Lake City 4 6 8 3 — 21
POST FALLS — Allert 2, Gonzales 7, Meehan 2, Smith 8, Litalien 9, Gennett 7, Runkle 5, Failor 6, Perrin 6.
LAKE CITY — Jackson 4, D. Wilson 0, J. Wilson 0, Gewecke 2, Horton 1, Wheelock 1, Farrell 8, Torres 1, Hawkes 4.