Long time coming

By MARK NELKE

Sports editor

POST FALLS - The game-tying shot from Coeur d'Alene High in the waning seconds came up short, falling into the hands of Post Falls four-year starter Brooke Litalien, who held onto the ball as the final buzzer sounded.

Then, the Post Falls Trojans partied like it was 2003.

Second-ranked Post Falls won its first league title in 10 seasons Friday night, beating top-ranked Coeur d'Alene 48-45 in overtime at The Arena to capture the 5A Inland Empire League girls basketball championship.

"That was exactly what we thought it was going to be - a battle," Post Falls coach Marc Allert said. "First of all, it's nice for these girls to win league. Obviously, it's nice having the (Region 1) tournament here. The girls realized it's our best (regular season) record in school history. That's all little steps in where we want to get to."

Just as important, Post Falls (18-1, 5-1 5A IEL) earned the No. 1 seed to the 5A Region 1 tournament, and will host the first night of play next Friday night. The Trojans will open vs. No. 4 seed Lake City (10-10, 0-6) at 7 p.m., after No. 2 seed Coeur d'Alene (15-4, 4-2) faces No. 3 Lewiston (15-5, 3-3) at 5:30.

On Friday night, Post Falls trailed 36-30 with 6 1/2 minutes left, but fought back to force overtime and never trailed in the extra 4 minutes. Hallie Gennett scored 9 of her game-high 16 points in the final 2:27 of regulation and overtime.

"She can score, and she hadn't had a real great night," Allert said. "But we have other options out of those (plays), she ended up getting the shots, and she did a good job finishing at the end of the game. I thought we executed real well at the end of the game when we needed to."

Reserve Brittany Tackett scored six quick points to open the fourth quarter to push Coeur d'Alene's lead to 36-30. The Vikings were still in good shape with 45-40 lead and 2:39 left after four free throws by Kendalyn Brainard, who played strong inside, finishing with 12 points despite suffering an injured left ankle in the first quarter. After the game, she hobbled out of the locker room with the help of a teammate, an ice pack on her left ankle.

But Gennett hit a 3-pointer to give Post Falls life. Coeur d'Alene turned the ball over three times in the final 1:29, and Gennett's two free throws with 1:15 left tied it at 42 and were the last points in regulation.

Gennett scored off the opening tip in overtime. Sydni Parker of Coeur d'Alene tied it at 44 with two free throws at 2:16. Dani Failor put Post Falls ahead 46-44 with two free throws at 1:57.

Coeur d'Alene moved the ball well early in the game against Post Falls' man-to-man defense with passing and cutting, but the Trojans switched to a zone late in regulation and slowed the Viking offense to a crawl. Allert said the Trojans had played very little zone all season to that point, but since it was working ...

After Failor's free throws, Coeur d'Alene tried to work the ball inside to no avail, but caught a break when Caelyn Orlandi was fouled by Gennett with 13.8 seconds left. However, Orlandi was hit in the face and couldn't shoot the free throws. Sara Chalich came off the bench for her and sank the first free throw, but missed the second and Gennett rebounded. She was fouled and hit two free throws with 10.2 seconds left, and Coeur d'Alene's game-tying 3 came up short.

"We were in good shape at 36-30, then Hallie came off that screen and hit that 3 and took all the momentum," said Coeur d'Alene coach Dale Poffenroth, who Friday afternoon was inducted into the Wall of Fame at Central Valley High in Spokane, where he won three state titles in 17 seasons before coming to Coeur d'Alene in 2004. "If we could have kept it at three and could have scored, it would have been a lot different. But that was a big shot by Hallie, but that's what she's known to do."

Earlier this month, Post Falls fell behind 12-0 in the first quarter and lost 47-41 at Coeur d'Alene - the Trojans' lone setback after starting the season with 15 straight wins.

On Friday night, Post Falls scored the first four points of the game, and could have put even more pressure on Coeur d'Alene, but shot just 8 of 26 from the field for the half, which ended in an 18-all tie.

Failor finished with 10 points and six rebounds, and Litalien scored all nine of her points in the first half. Madison Sumner added nine points for Coeur d'Alene before fouling out with 1:15 left in regulation.

"It was a good game; we just ran out of bodies," Poffenroth said. "Kendalyn was playing at about half-speed since the first quarter when she got undercut. Goose (Orlandi) getting slapped in the face and couldn't see, and we had to put in a free-throw shooter that was cold. But, those things happen. We couldn't quite get what we needed."

After the win, the Trojans hooted and hollared as they raced for the locker room, but still aware there is more work to be done. The two teams could meet again at regionals and at state.

"Honestly, it's just another win," said Gennett, who transferred to Post Falls this season from University High in Spokane. "It was exciting because it was a league win, but we still have a long way to go. We're still going to have to play them again, so we're going to have to focus on not getting too confident and coming out strong every game."

Both teams wrap up the regular season today, Coeur d'Alene traveling to Moscow and Post Falls hosting Lakeland in the rescheduled Battle for the Prairie Pig spirit game.

Coeur d'Alene 8 10 12 12 3 - 45

Post Falls 10 8 10 14 6 - 48

COEUR d'ALENE - Parker 3, Sumner 9, Chalich 1, Orlandi 4, Tackett 8, Brainard 12, Williams 8.

POST FALLS - Allert 4, Gonzales 2, King 5, Smith 2, Litalien 9, Gennett 16, Runkle 0, Failor 10.