STATE 1A DIVISION II GIRLS BASKETBALL: Lakeside rallies, but falls in OT
<p>During a battle for possession of a loose ball, Lakeside’s Talia Hendrickx collides with Rockland’s Aspen O’Brien during the second quarter.</p>
<p>Lakeside High School’s Lillian Rhea (5) reacts to the ball after Jordyn Nomee (1) strips it from Rockland High’s Kariena Turnbeaugh Thursday at the state 1A Division II girls basketball tournament at Nampa High School.</p>
NAMPA — No quit, no surrender.
Not even when things weren’t looking good in the third quarter.
Nor when they trailed by 55-52 with five seconds remaining and needed a 3-pointer to send the game to overtime.
They didn’t quit.
They didn’t surrender.
They just came up a little short.
Lakeside junior post Lillian Rhea scored a career-high 33 points and grabbed 23 rebounds, but the Rockland Bulldogs outscored the Knights 11-7 in overtime for a 66-62 win in the opening round of the state 1A Division II tournament on Thursday at Nampa High.
“I thought they played hard, and that’s what I really wanted from them,” second-year Lakeside coach Chris Dohrman said. “And we didn’t play really well in the first three quarters at all. I thought they continued to fight and work. We had a lot of foul trouble, but we didn’t give up until that final second.”
Lakeside led Rockland 15-13 after the first quarter, but spent most of the second half chasing the Bulldogs (17-6), sending the game to overtime on a 3-pointer from junior Corin Peone at the fourth-quarter buzzer.
“That was big for us,” Dohrman said. “I just kept pushing to the girls to keep fighting. We don’t know what’s going to happen. Unfortunately, things didn’t go our way in overtime, but we needed to get some more buckets. I was proud of that fight they had, but we needed to bring it a little earlier.”
Peone finished with seven points, all coming in the second half and overtime.
“I just wanted to win, that’s all I really wanted,” Peone said of the final shot. “I just knew I needed to get a shot up. It looked like an open shot, so I took it. My shot wasn’t falling until late in the game.”
“She was kind of upset that her shot wasn’t on tonight,” said Dohrman of Peone. “And she’s one of our shooters and I mentioned to her that all she had to do was make one, and she made a big one. She did a great job stepping in and playing well when we had some foul trouble. Rockland’s a good team and we could have easily got that one. Unfortunately we didn’t.”
Stefanie McClanahan scored 23 points for Rockland, which plays Richfield in the semifinals this afternoon.
“It was a heck of a game,” Rockland coach Vern Nelson said. “They didn’t quit and that was a heck of a shot to get up right before the buzzer. Both teams played so hard, and dug down and we just got more shots to go in overtime. Two years ago, Dietrich beat us on a last-second shot to go to the championship game. Lakeside’s a heck of a ball team. It’s a good win for us, but it’s a shame that somebody had to lose that game.”
Lakeside shot 4 of 17 in the first half from the field, but made up for it at the foul line, going 12 of 18 from the three throw line.
“I really feel like we didn’t come through in the first and third quarter,” Peone said. “We didn’t start playing well until the fourth quarter. We should have fought through and been able to finish the job.”
Rhea scored 22 of her points in the second half.
“That’s the way it’s been all year,” Dohrman said. “She’s been big for us all year long and she did a great job today.
Lakeside will face Council in the consolation round tonight at 5:15 PST. Council lost 49-46 to Richfield.
“Nobody likes to lose,” Dohrman said. “But the girls played their hearts out and we can live with that.
Rockland 13 14 17 11 11 — 66
Lakeside 15 5 15 20 7 — 62
ROCKLAND — Turnbeaugh 9, Weise 0, McClanahan 23, Freeman 17, Jensen 0, Lish 4, Robinson 6, Wood 1, O’Brien 6, Porath 0. Totals 19-55 23-39 66.
LAKESIDE — Nomee 6, Palmer 3, Rhea 33, A. Sijohn 0, Daman 0, Hendrickx 8, Arthur 2, Dohrman 4, Lambert 0, Peone 6. Totals 21-59 16-25 62.