Strong start doesn't last for Trojans
POST FALLS - For the first 14 minutes of Tuesday's 5A Inland Empire League girls basketball opener, the Post Falls Trojans showed that they've got the ability to challenge.
It was the cold streak in the final 18 minutes that showed the Trojans where they need to go from here.
Senior Lynzee Wilson scored a game-high 14 points as the Lewiston Bengals pulled away in the second half to beat the Post Falls Trojans 56-37 at The Arena.
Post Falls opened a 22-18 lead with 3 minutes remaining in the first half on a 3-pointer from Kim Reynolds, but Lewiston answered with eight straight points to close the period.
Wilson scored five of her game-high 14 points in that stretch to give Lewiston the lead for good.
"I thought we executed well, especially defensively in the first half," Post Falls coach Marc Allert said. "Then in that last minute or so, they made a run and it gave them some momentum. They picked up the intensity in the second half, and we didn't match it. Offensively, we didn't execute well at all."
Lewiston outscored Post Falls 18-6 in the third quarter to pull away, keyed by Cali Moscrip scoring 11 of her 13 points in the third quarter.
"I thought we were pretty sluggish in the first half," said Lewiston coach Dave Cornelia, the former Bengal boys coach in his first season as Lewiston girls head coach. "We looked like a team that was playing their first road game of the season. We responded well after the half. I've known Marc a long time and know that his kids are going to play hard all game. Both teams struggled in the first half, but the key for us was how we finished the first half. Post Falls did a really good job of taking away our post entry stuff and I thought our passes were a bit floaty, a little bit lazy. We were just trying to throw a touch pass instead of looking for another opportunity and I thought they did a good job of defending us in the first half. We couldn't score, and we couldn't trap on defense because we couldn't score."
Reynolds led Post Falls (1-1) with nine points. Freshman Melody Kempton had six points and eight rebounds and freshman Bayley Brennan had seven points for Post Falls, which hosts Rogers on Thursday at The Arena.
"Both Melody and Bayley are going to be good players, but they've got some things to learn," Allert said. "The speed at this level is not what they're used to."
"For a first game, I thought we played well," Kempton said. "But we definitely could have played better. We had our energy up in the first half and had that going really well and caught them off guard in the first half."
Post Falls concludes the week by competing in the Border Clash at West Valley High, facing North Central on Friday, then host West Valley on Saturday.
"This was kind of a starting point and test for us," Allert said. "We know that Lewiston is good, and we talked about it before the game. All the things we need to work on are fixable, and we'll start on that tomorrow."
Lewiston 8 18 18 12 - 56
Post Falls 12 10 6 9 - 37
LEWISTON - Weeks 2, Wilson 14, Thomason 1, Moscrip 13, Schlader 10, Bailey 0, Cornelia 5, White 7, Roy 0, Havens 2, Johnson 2.
POST FALLS - Allert 4, O. Ellison 7, A. Ellison 0, Brennan 7, King 0, McComb 0, Anderson 2, Kempton 6, Runkle 2, Reynolds 9.