STATE 5A GIRLS BASKETBALL: Lake City rolls past Highland to advance to 5A consolation game
<p>SHAWN GUST/Press Lake City High School’s Olivia Maryon (13) races Highland High’s Ashley Wheatley (11) for a loose ball in the first quarter Friday at the state 5A girls basketball tournament at the Idaho Center in Nampa.</p>
<p>SHAWN GUST/Press Lake City’s Nina Carlson (3) is fouled by Highland’s Madison McQuivey during the third quarter.</p>
NAMPA — They had their moment of being angry about the outcome of Thursday’s state 5A opener.
Then, just as quickly, the Lake City Timberwolves flipped that anger into motivation and there was no looking back.
Junior Nina Carlson finished with 15 points, junior Lauren Rewers had 11 points and the Timberwolves — behind 19-of-37 shooting from the field — ran past the Highland Rams of Pocatello 59-29 in a consolation game on Friday at the Ford Idaho Center.
Lake City (20-5) will face Hillcrest (23-2) of Idaho Falls today at 8:15 a.m. PST at Skyview High in Nampa in the consolation championship game.
“They were really disappointed and had some really big goals in mind,” Lake City coach Bryan Kelly said. “But I told them, ‘we’re not done.’ Our goal this season is to get better every day and bring some hardware home. And the girls took that to heart. They came out aggressive and took the ball to the basket. That’s what we’ve done all season.”
Carlson had 10 of her 15 points in the first half, and sat the fourth quarter.
“I wanted to focus on rebounding and doing the little things,” Carlson said. “I feel that doing the little things gets me going personally and that helps my team get going. It almost becomes contagious.”
“Last night, she told me she’d bring it tomorrow,” Kelly said. “She was great and the one thing about her is she gets her teammates involved. She knew we needed her on the offensive end to get everyone else going.”
Carlson finished the game 4 for 5 from the field and 6 of 6 from the free throw line.
“I personally hate losing,” Carlson said. “We had our moment of being angry about it, then we turned it into motivation. I think everyone was ready to go, dialed in and focused.”
“Nina, she’ll be the first to admit that she didn’t play well (Thursday) night,” Kelly said. “She was bound and determined to come and play hard. Lauren (Rewers) did a good job of catching and shooting and Keara (Simpson) did a great job inside. Everyone from the top down played outstanding.”
Lake City made 18 of 22 from the free-throw line in the game, making 14 of 18 in the second half.
Hillcrest eliminated Borah 56-45 in the other consolation game.
“Our whole goal was to put three plaques on that wall this season,” Kelly said. “We’ve got two (an Inland Empire League championship and Region 1 championship). Whatever we bring home will fulfill that goal as a team. I like this group way too much to go home now. I want to keep playing.”
Allie Thayne scored seven points for Highland, which finishes 14-12.
“They’re just such a long team,” Highland coach Tony Green said of Lake City. “We didn’t really make them move from wing to wing and our movement was lagging. We didn’t make their bigs come out and guard, and a lot of that is lack of preparation on my part. They’re a disciplined, well-coached team. They’re super athletic, and that’s not an easy defense to penetrate against.”
Highland 5 10 4 10 — 29
Lake City 14 16 18 11 — 59
HIGHLAND — Baker 5, Wheatley 3, Pokibro 6, McQuivey 2, Obray 0, Rowe 4, Benson 0, Winn 0, Shore 2, Packer 0, Thayne 7. Totals 9-40 8-18 29.
LAKE CITY — Barber 3, Dvorak 6, Carlson 15, K. Maryon 2, Rieken 1, Vershum 2, Teets 2, Rewers 11, O. Maryon 1, Zufelt 0, Meier 8, Halliday 2, Nelson 0, Simpson 6. Totals 19-37 18-22 59.