5A REGION 1 GIRLS BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT: Post Falls keeps its season alive
<p>Post Falls’s Madie King steals a dropped ball from Lake City’s Whitney Meier during the first half of the 5A Region 1 Tournament on Thursday night. Post Falls beat Lake City 52-35.</p>
<p>The Post Falls Trojans celebrate a ten point lead against Lake City after the end of the third quarter. Post Falls beat Lake City 52-35 in the 5A Region 1 Tournament on Thursday night.</p>
POST FALLS - All season long, Post Falls High girls basketball coach Marc Allert has stressed to his team that you can't rely on just one or two players to get the job done.
It takes everyone.
On Thursday, with its season on the line - and down a starter - his team took that message to heart.
Freshman post Melody Kempton had 26 points and 10 rebounds for the second-seeded Trojans in a 52-35 win over the third-seeded Lake City Timberwolves in the 5A Region 1 tournament second-place game at The Arena.
With the win, Post Falls (18-6) advances to face Rocky Mountain (17-8) of Meridian in a state 5A tournament play-in game on Saturday at 3 p.m. at Grangeville High.
Lake City finishes 16-10.
"We talked a lot about it before the game, and what this team is about is never really relying on one or two people, and everyone stepping up at the right time," Allert said.
Post Falls senior post Sam Runkle, who was injured in the final three minutes of Tuesday's Region 1 championship game at Lewiston, is out for the season with three torn ligaments in her left ankle.
Starters Shayna Allert had 11 points, nine rebounds, five assists and four steals and Maia Anderson had four steals for Post Falls, which broke the game open on two 3-point field goals by reserve guard Madie King early in the fourth quarter.
"Sam's a big loss for us, but we talked about everyone had to take a part of what she does and I thought we did that tonight," Allert said. "Maia (Anderson) played really well tonight and Shayna stepped in and rebounded the ball. I thought it was a total team effort and Madie came off the bench and hit some big shots for us."
Seniors Clarissa Smith had 16 points and eight rebounds and Natalie Wheelock had four points and five rebounds for Lake City, which lost all four games vs. Post Falls.
"The ball just bounces a certain way sometimes," Lake City coach Bryan Kelly said. "They played with a little more energy than we did at times. They hit some shots tonight, and I'm very proud of our girls and how far they've come in the last few years. Natalie and Clarissa, I can't say enough about them. They come out and fight and give everything they've got for the program - and I think with the younger girls - we've got something to build on for next year."
Lake City lost starting guard Halle Eborall to a right knee injury in the first quarter, when the Timberwolves led 13-11.
"Halle getting hurt didn't help anything," Kelly said. "She's very athletic, but Post Falls was more athletic than we were tonight. Kempton's a tough matchup. We tried to zone her, she scores. We tried to man her, she'd get around and get to the basket. She's a heck of a player."
Lake City 13 9 7 6 - 35
Post Falls 11 12 16 13 - 52
LAKE CITY - Eborall 2, Dvorak 2, Carlson 0, K. Maryon 2, Wheelock 4, Vershum 0, Smith 16, O. Maryon 2, Rewers 0, Meier 1, Simpson 6.
POST FALLS - Allert 11, O. Ellison 4, A. Ellison 0, Brennan 2, King 6, McComb 1, Anderson 2, Gennett 0, Kempton 26, Parks 0, Reynolds 0, G. Ellison 0.