Timberlake rolls on to title game

COEUR d’ALENE — They’re not there yet — there’s that matter of a district title game on Wednesday — but the Timberlake Tigers will have at least one fan from their league if and when they head down to the state tournament next week.

“My hat’s off to them,” said Kellogg coach Eli Bourgard, after his Wildcats committed 27 first-half turnovers and were shredded 63-25 by the Tigers in the first round of the 3A District 1 girls basketball tournament Monday night at North Idaho College’s Rolly Williams Court. “They work so hard; they play great defense, and they’re obviously very deep — that’s why it might seem like there are six of them on the floor at times.

“I think they are primed for a deep run at a state title, and we’ll be rooting for them.”

Timberlake (19-1) will play No. 3 seed Bonners Ferry (7-11) in the district title game Wednesday at 6:15 p.m. at NIC for a berth to state. Bonners Ferry beat No. 2 seed Priest River 46-33 in Monday’s other semifinal. Kellogg (10-10) will play Priest River (12-8) in a loser-out game Wednesday at 4:30.

Timberlake defeated Bonners Ferry by 50 and 35 points during Intermountain League play.

“We’re getting better; we’re not going to back down from anybody,” Bonners Ferry coach Mike Cowley said.

“We’ve definitely got to stay focused, and do what we do,” Timberlake coach Matt Miller said. “They’re definitely not going to lay down for us.”

Timberlake 63, Kellogg 25: The Tigers come at you in waves — five at a time, a fresh group subbing in every couple of minutes, continuing on the theme of full-court pressure the first group started. At times, it was all Kellogg could do to get the ball through the pressure in a position to shoot. The Wildcats got off just 23 shots, and finished with 34 turnovers.

“I really liked our effort,” Miller said. “We looked a little hurried on offense; we didn’t finish a lot of the plays that we normally finish.”

Thirteen girls played for Timberlake and 12 scored, led by junior Jacquelyn Mallet with 11 points. Sophomore post Kaylee Jezek added nine points, as did junior guards Allison Kirby and Keelie Lawler.

It was the pressure of Kirby, Lawler, freshman McKeeley Tonkin, Anna Gardom, Erica Powell, Emily Vanderhoof, Lilly Kelley, Payten Rhodes, Shelby Starr, etc. (if we missed anybody, it was because it was such a blur) that eventually wore down Kellogg.

“I thought our girls played hard, but Timberlake’s a couple levels ahead of us,” Bourgard said. “They do this to everybody, not just us. It’s going to be a good district tournament for anybody not playing Timberlake.”

Junior Marley Chambers led Kellogg with eight points.

Kellogg 4 7 8 6 — 25

Timberlake 18 24 14 7 — 63

KELLOGG — Arthur 2, Riekena 2, Twidt 3, Rauenhorst 0, Cates 5, Speelman 1, Sheppard 0, Chambers 8, Bening 0, Graybill-Miller 0, Senteny 4.

TIMBERLAKE — Vanderhoof 2, Kelley 2, Rhodes 3, Mallet 11, Starr 7, Jezek 9, Kirby 9, Cheevers 0, Powell 2, Gardom 3, Simpson 4, Tonkin 2, Lawler 9.

Bonners Ferry 46, Priest River 33: The Badgers took the fight to the Spartans from the start, but nearly paid for it with foul trouble and 16 turnovers in the first half.

But Bonners opened up a 21-13 halftime lead, and outscored Priest River 17-8 in the third to open up a 17-point lead.

The Spartans pulled to within eight midway through the final quarter, but Kerstin Oxford’s steal and basket for Bonners with 2:46 remaining — the Badgers’ first points of the quarter — stopped the Spartan run and the Badgers regained control the rest of the way.

Bonners lost to Priest River by 11 and 2 points in league play. In the second meeting, at Priest River, the teams were tied in the waning seconds when a Badger foul led to the Spartans’ winning free throws.

“I asked the kids to play real hard man-to-man defense,” said Cowley, who took over as Badgers coach in January when Chris Chatburn resigned. “We turned them over quite a few times, and got a few easy ones.”

Sophomores Kassy Skeen and Miranda Wenk each scored 16 points for Bonners Ferry, which cut its turnovers in the second half down to nine.

Junior Avery Summers had 10 points, 12 rebounds and seven steals for Priest River, which shot just 11 for 51 from the field.

Bonners Ferry 12 9 17 8 — 46

Priest River 6 7 8 12 — 33

BONNERS FERRY — Skeen 16, Oxford 5, Spangler 2, Wenk 16, Coughlin 2, Bateman 0, Donn 1, Webster 0, Golder 4.

PRIEST RIVER — Hurd 0, Wilson 3, Gamma 2, Summers 10, Krampert 4, Huntley 0, Carey 7, Akre 6, DeMent 1, Pettit 0.