Instant energy

COEUR d’ALENE — With its combination of size and quickness, Lake City’s starting five is a handful for most girls basketball teams.

And when the second wave of Cierra Dvorak, Whitney Meier and Bridget Rieken are on their game — as they were in Monday’s 52-31 victory at the CHS Womens’ Winter Classic — the state-ranked Timberwolves are extremely tough to beat.

The trio came into a close tournament opener against Lake Stevens and provided defensive pressure and scoring, leading Lake City on a 19-0 run that spanned seven minutes of the first and second quarters.

“Cierra, Whit and Bridget, that’s what they do — they come in and give us instant energy,” T-Wolves coach Bryan Kelly said. “We went with our smaller lineup and our defensive pressure got us rolling.”

After a slow-paced opening six minutes, back-to-back 3-pointers by Nina Carlson and Meier began the run, putting Lake City ahead 10-4 late in the opening frame. The made baskets gave the Timberwolves (9-1) an opportunity to apply full-court pressure, and eventually force 13 first-half turnovers by the Seattle-area Vikings (5-3).

By the time Lauren Rewers sank a long jump shot, the Timberwolves (9-1) were ahead 23-4 and would lead by double-digits the rest of the way.

“We just wanted to press them hard and force them into some quick turnovers,” said Dvorak, a senior who had eight points, eight rebounds and three steals.

Trailing 31-13 at intermission, Lake Stevens coach Randall Edens said his team’s goal was to cut the lead to single-digits. And with a tough zone defense and the scoring of Kylee Griffen and Hailey Wilson, the Vikings did cut the deficit to 12 twice in the third quarter.

But Rieken’s putback basket at the end of the third quarter and Meier’s 3-pointer to begin the fourth, Lake City regained a comfortable 40-23 margin and maintained it before both coaches emptied their benches.

“We had a stretch where we played well in the second half, with chances to cut (the lead) to single digits, but every time we’d get close to that, they get a key rebound,” Edens said.

The Timberwolves, led by Keara Simpson’s 10 rebounds, enjoyed a 38-20 advantage on the boards — including 15 offensive rebounds.

Meier had 11 points to lead a balanced Lake City offense, and said she and her teammates enjoyed the challenge of facing a team from western Washington.

“We didn’t know what to expect, so we had to adjust to what they were doing,” Meier said. “It’s hard to come out strong against a team we had no clue about.”

Lake City advances to face unbeaten Bothell (9-0) at 5:15 p.m. today in the tournament semifinals.

Wilson had 11 points and five rebounds for Lake Stevens, which faces Post Falls at 1:45 p.m. today.

Lake Stevens 4 9 10 8 — 31

Lake City 12 19 6 15 — 52

LAKE STEVENS — Dominick 4, Griffen 10, Wilson 11, Walton 3, Glick 0, Saylor 0, Richardson 0, T. Smith 0, K. Smith 3, Taylor 0. Totals 9-39 FG, 11-16 FT, 31.

LAKE CITY — Carlson 3, K. Maryon 4, Rewers 4, O. Maryon 2, Simpson 9, Dvorak 8, Rieken 9, Meier 11, Vershum 2, Barber 0, Teets 0, Zufelt 0, Halliday 0. Totals 20-52, 8-16, 52.

Bothell 66, Post Falls 56: Melody Kempton had 18 points and six rebounds for the Trojans in a loss to the Cougars in the opening round.

“They’re a very good team,” Post Falls coach Marc Allert said. “They had three really good posts and hurt us inside. They were a lot more physical than us. I thought Mackey Morris gave us some energy and really gave us a spark in the fourth quarter. We finally adjusted to their physicalness, but it was a little too late.”

Post Falls (6-5) faces Lake Stevens today at 1:45.

Taya Corosdale scored 23 points for Bothell (9-0), which faces Lake City in a semifinal game tonight at 5:15.

Post Falls 10 11 10 25 — 56

Bothell 17 15 15 17 — 66

POST FALLS — Ellison 9, Morris 3, Gennett 0, Brennan 8, Robinson 7, C. Johnson 0, Kempton 18, Parks 5, A. Johnson 4, Ter Matten 2.

BOTHELL — Cole 6, Burns 12, Corosdale 23, M. Akoto 3, Jones 8, B. Akoto 11, Shelton 4.

Coeur d’Alene 72, Lyle-Wishram 16: Isabella Hollibaugh scored 15 points and Halle Kane and Emily Callahan had four assists each as the Vikings beat the Cougars in an opening round game.

Coeur d’Alene (5-4) will face Sandpoint in the semifinals tonight at 7 p.m.

“Isabella had some breakaways and it got her going,” Coeur d’Alene coach Dale Poffenroth said. “They’re not used to playing that fast, especially a post that is that fast. We had a good night with 12 steals as a team.”

Lyle-Wishram will face Enumclaw in a consolation game at 3:30 p.m.

Lyle-Wishram 3 6 6 1 — 16

Coeur d’Alene 20 21 15 16 — 72

LYLE-WISHRAM — Houston 0, Cloud 0, Luke 9, Carse 2, McConville 0, Spino 0, Smith 3, Oldfield 2.

COEUR d’ALENE — Miller 4, Morton 7, Horvath 6, Kane 6, Callahan 7, Fagan 5, Bojorquez 6, Louden 8, Hollibaugh 15, Horning 8.

Sandpoint 56, Enumclaw 32: Madi Schoening had 27 points, 13 rebounds and three steals to lead the Bulldogs past the Hornets in an opening round game.

Sandpoint improves to 6-7, while Enumclaw moves to 5-3.