5A REGION 1 GIRLS BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT: Post Falls to fight another day

Trojan girls top Lewiston to advance to state 5A play-in game

POST FALLS — At this point in the season, you just want to survive and advance.

Forget the 17 of 42 from the free-throw line for Post Falls, as well as the 54 fouls called in the game between the two teams.

Post Falls found a way, somehow, someway to beat the Lewiston Bengals behind 16 points from Bayley Brennan in a 50-44 win in the 5A Region 1 girls basketball tournament second-place game at The Arena.

“We’ve been working a lot on free throws lately, so we might go the other way,” Allert said. “About the last three weeks, we’ve shot a bunch of them, and it hasn’t been working, so we might just forget about it. We got there, 17 makes is a lot.”

Brennan scored 9 of her 16 points in the second quarter to push Post Falls to a 19-15 halftime lead.

“Bayley did a good job,” Allert said. “Against their pressure, she does a good job of getting the ball up the court and hit a couple of shots. She hit a big 3-pointer and did a good job of handling their pressure.”

Mackenzie Morris had six points and 13 rebounds for Post Falls (14-10), which faces Borah High of Boise on Saturday at 3 p.m. in a state play-in game at Grangeville.

“I thought Mackenzie was huge for us tonight,” Allert said. “Her rebounding got us a lot of extra possessions on the offensive end. She’s got a great motor and just plays hard.”

Borah (17-9) beat Post Falls 44-39 in the TimberLion tournament on Dec. 19 in Boise.

Abbey Roy scored nine points for Lewiston, which finished 15-8.

“We didn’t deserve to win,” Lewiston coach Dave Cornelia said. “But they kept us in the game from the free-throw line. They just killed us on the glass, especially on the offensive ball and outrebounded us 18 to 5.”

Lewiston went cold from the field, allowing Post Falls to go on a 10-0 run from late in the third quarter to midway into the fourth quarter that stretched the lead to 38-21.

“Marc and I took offenses back about a century there,” Cornelia said. “You might as well have drug out the peach baskets and cut the bottom out of those things. Early, we had a 12-10 lead and it seemed like neither team wanted to score.”

Lewiston 10 5 6 23 — 44

Post Falls 8 11 13 18 — 50

LEWISTON — Weeks 6, Randall 8, Ralstin 3, Cornelia 0, Roy 9, Kinzer 4, Bugbee 0, Cady 3, Havens 6, Johnson 2, Santana 0.

POST FALLS — Morris 6, Gennett 1, Brennan 16, Gleaves 0, McComb 6, Robinson 0, Kempton 13, Parks 0, A. Johnson 8.