5A REGION 1 GIRLS BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT: Bengal bummer

LEWISTON - Playing with nothing to lose on Tuesday night at Booth Hall, the second seeded Post Falls Trojans almost had their biggest girls basketball win of the season.

Almost.

Lewiston senior post Emilee Schlader scored eight of her team-high 13 points in the final 2:02, including the winning basket with 7.8 seconds left, rallying the Bengals past the Trojans 56-54 in the 5A Region 1 tournament championship game at Booth Hall.

Lewiston (21-1) advances to the state 5A tournament starting next Thursday at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa, facing the fifth-place team from District 3. Post Falls (17-6) will host Lake City, which eliminated Coeur d'Alene 42-30, in the regional second-place game on Thursday at 7 p.m., with that winner advancing to face the fifth-place game from District 3 on Saturday in Grangeville in a state play-in game.

"Actually, the kids are a little bummed out now, but they should be super proud of what they did in the second half," Post Falls coach Marc Allert said. "I thought in the first half, they were getting every loose ball and outworking us. We made some adjustments and turned that around in the second half."

Lewiston 56, Post Falls 54: Lewiston led 27-21 at halftime, but Post Falls bounced back to take a 41-39 lead after three quarters.

Post Falls led 52-47 with 3:30 to go before the Trojans had the wheels taken out from underneath them - as senior forward Sam Runkle injured her ankle when a Lewiston player dove for a loose ball - forcing her from the game.

"It never helps, but with the way she's been playing lately, it was a big loss and took the wind out of our sails a little bit," Allert said. "I was very proud of the way we battled through all of that stuff."

Post Falls freshman post Melody Kempton had 26 points and nine rebounds, and her free throw gave the Trojans a 53-52 lead with 1:53 remaining. She tied it at 54 on another free throw with 44.2 seconds remaining before Schlader's putback sent the Bengals to the state tournament for the second straight year and fourth time in the last five years.

"I got old in a hurry," first-year Lewiston coach Dave Cornelia said. "I thought we were left for dead (trailing by five points with three minutes left). We made a couple of big plays down the stretch and they missed some free throws. Marc's kids battled from beginning to end. This game was something special tonight."

"Melody was phenomenal tonight," Cornelia said. "It seemed like our post players quit guarding her and she was just great tonight."

Kempton's coach agreed.

"She's done that all year long for us," Allert said. "She doesn't play like a freshman and doesn't act like a freshman on the court. She's the one we went to at the end of the game and the one that had the ball in her hands at the end of the game. She did a fantastic job."

"I think we played exceptionally well, and could have won the game," Kempton said. "But it came down to the end, and we played our butts off. It just came down to a final play."

Runkle had 13 points and 10 rebounds and Shayna Allert had seven points, six assists and six steals for Post Falls.

"We had nothing to lose and just had to play our game," Shayna Allert said. "It was a little rough at the start, but I think we worked get back into. We can't dwell on this game and need to get on to the next one."

After Schlader's basket, Post Falls inbounded the ball, but was unable to get up a shot before the buzzer.

"I told our kids before the game that nobody expected us to be in this spot, even now," coach Allert said. "We were really the only ones that believed we could win this game. I thought we had a chance, but nothing has changed as far as what we wanted to accomplish as far as making a state tournament. I told the seniors, it's kind of a bonus, but you get to play at least two more games now."

Post Falls 14 7 20 13 - 54

Lewiston 19 8 12 17 - 56

POST FALLS - Allert 7, O. Ellison 4, A. Ellison 0, Brennan 2, Anderson 0, Kempton 26, Runkle 13, Reynolds 2.

LEWISTON - Weeks 5, Randall 0, Wilson 10, Thomason 0, Schlader 13, Moscrip 8, Cornelia 5, White 10, Roy 0, Havens 3, Johnson 2.