5A INLAND EMPIRE LEAGUE GIRLS BASKETBALL: Two-minute warning

COEUR d’ALENE — For 30 minutes of game time, it could have gone either way.

On Tuesday night, the Coeur d’Alene Vikings will point to the two-minute stretch of the fourth quarter between the seventh and fifth minute as the moment when things went off the rails a little bit.

Senior post Katie Havens scored 14 points for the visiting Lewiston Bengals in a 59-45 win over the Vikings in Coeur d’Alene’s 5A Inland Empire League opener at Elmer Jordan Court.

“Don’t know that we played too bad,” Coeur d’Alene coach Dale Poffenroth said. “It was that two minutes in the fourth quarter that we tried to be a track team, and they took us apart. Everything they did in that span, it was like being at the casino when the lights are rolling and they keep going around and around. When we stopped doing that, and playing our game, it was more of our game. If we’d kept it our kind of game, we could have had a chance at the end. I don’t know if we could have won, but we would have given ourselves a chance.”

Coeur d’Alene (3-3) had cut the deficit to 43-39 before the Bengals went on a 14-0 run midway through the final period.

Emily Callahan scored 17 points, Isabella Hollibaugh added 11 points and Kayla Fagan had four rebounds for Coeur d’Alene.

“It was a close game,” Poffenroth said. “We did some things better than we’d done in our last two games. Kids worked hard and our free-throw shooting (13 of 19) was better than in our last two games. Taryn (Horvath) is starting to get into the flow of the game. Think there’s promise there, but it’s going to take some work.”

Lewiston (6-2, 1-1 5A IEL) opened the game on a 9-2 run before outscoring Coeur d’Alene in the second half, keyed by Havens’ 12 rebounds.

“Think that’s how we’ve played,” Lewiston coach Dave Cornelia said. “We’re going to play really well in spurts. When we make shots, we’re going to force some turnovers and we’re going to do some things. We’ve got some kids that are going to run the floor, but we’ve also got some kids that haven’t played a lot. They have to battle through those spots. If we can battle through those things, we should be successful.”

Coeur d’Alene held Lewiston leading scorer Haylee Weeks scoreless in the first half, but allowed her to score 10 points in the second half. Callahan had 11 of her game-high 17 in the first half.

“Three different times, we’d get the lead to 10 points, and they’d get it to nothing,” Cornelia said. “We gave Emily Callahan too many good looks and put them on the foul line too many times. We’ve just got to know we’ve got to pressure without fouling, and we did a better job of that in the second half for the most part.”

Post Falls beat Lewiston 49-42 in Lewiston on Dec. 1.

“Post Falls is young, Lake City has the most kids back,” Cornelia said. “I don’t think anyone is going to show up on any given night and win. Coeur d’Alene showed some things tonight and we didn’t see a true representation of what we’re going to see this year from them at the end of the year. Everyone is going to be different by the time we get to mid-January. We’re looking forward to what we can become.”

Freshmen posts Kelly Horning and Rey Louden were saddled with foul trouble for most of the night for Coeur d’Alene.

“If we can take what we learned tonight and apply that to our next few games, we should be all right,” Poffenroth said. “Our two freshmen posts never got on track. Rey, once she got some confidence, she got into it. They’re the only size we’ve got and we’ve got to get them involved in the game.”

Lewiston 15 13 13 18 — 59

Coeur d’Alene 11 15 9 10 — 45

LEWISTON — Weeks 10, Randall 8, Ralstin 3, Bailey 3, Cornelia 2, Roy 5, Kinzer 0, Bugbee 0, Cady 8, Havens 14, Johnson 5, Santana 1.

COEUR d’ALENE — Miller 1, Horvath 2, Callahan 17, Fagan 3, Bojorquez 0, Rollins 4, Louden 6, Hollibaugh 12, Horning 0.