FIGHT FOR THE FISH: Bounceback night

COEUR d’ALENE — It was a bit of a bounceback night for the Coeur d’Alene High boys and the Lake City girls, and a breakout night for Joey Naccarato of the Vikings and Nina Carlson of the Timberwolves in the 18th annual Fight for the Fish spirit basketball games Friday night at Coeur d’Alene High’s Elmer Jordan Court.

Naccarato, a junior, totaled 23 points and 14 rebounds as Coeur d’Alene’s boys defeated Lake City 63-40.

“Joey, his motor doesn’t stop; he’s a beast on both ends of the floor, and he showed that tonight,” Coeur d’Alene High coach Kurt Lundblad said. “He let the game come to him a little bit more; he got back to just getting after people on the glass, and rebounding out of his area.”

Carlson, also a junior, had 18 points, nine rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots as Lake City’s girls pulled away for a 56-25 victory over the Vikings.

“Nina was all over the place; that’s Nina’s best game by far,” Lake City coach Bryan Kelly said.

After the boys game, Lake City was determined by judges to be the winner of the Fish. The event attracted a standing-room-only crowd estimated at 1,800.

BOYS

Coeur d’Alene 63, Lake City 40: Naccarato, a 6-foot-4 post, was close to unstoppable near the basket for Coeur d’Alene (11-2, 2-1 5A Inland Empire League). When he wasn’t scoring, he was drawing fouls, and finished 13 of 14 from the line.

“Tonight was one of our best games as a team; we played more together than we have in the past,” Naccarato said. “I just try to play active, and I give these guys some confidence shooting the ball, knowing there’s going to be a second chance.”

Sophomore Sam Matheson hit four 3-pointers and finished with 14 points, and junior Brody Lundblad hit three 3s and also had 14 points for the Vikings, who beat Lake City by just three points last week, and fell by one point at Post Falls on Tuesday in their first two league games.

“Obviously our first two league games, we didn’t play real well,” Kurt Lundblad said. “And I have no explanation for that. Tonight we got back to defending and rebounding, and that’s our bread and butter. Offensively we were impatient at times, but we knew where we wanted the ball to go, and how we were going to get it there, so they did a much better job of that tonight.”

Lake City (3-10, 0-3), with just one returning player from last year, played hard in the first Fish game for most of them. But making shots was an issue, and the T-Wolves were just 14 of 51 from the floor.

“I thought Coeur d’Alene was loaded for bear,” Lake City coach Jim Winger said. “I think the elements bothered us tonight. I think they let it get pretty rough, and if it gets that rough, we’re young and kind of light-framed, and you’re going to get thrown around a little bit. All of those factors — them playing lights out, and we were a little uptight, being the Fish game, and the physicalness of the way the game was played.”

Sophomore guard Kodie Kolden played well off the bench for Lake City, scoring a team-high 14 points. Junior Kenny Louie-McGee added eight.

Coeur d’Alene led just 14-11 after one quarter, then opened it up a bit in the second and third as Lake City was hindered by foul trouble as well.

Lake City plays host to Post Falls next Friday. Coeur d’Alene returns to action Tuesday at Lakeland.

Lake City 11 7 8 14 — 40

Coeur d’Alene 14 16 17 16 — 63

LAKE CITY — Louie-McGee 8, Kolden 14, Womelduff 0, Butler 4, Hartz 4, Hunter 5, Carlson 4, Flolo 1, Manzardo 0, Pollow 0, Sells 0.

COEUR d’ALENE — Lee 2, Lundblad 14, Lynn 0, Bonacci 0, Matheson 14, Yankoff 5, Bronson 0, McElver 5, Naccarato 23, Kofmehl 0, Beggerly 0, Edwards 0, MacDonald 0.

GIRLS

Lake City 56, Coeur d’Alene 25: Carlson, a 6-2 post who has verbally committed to Idaho, scored all 11 of her second-half points in the third quarter, all in a 20-0 run that expanded a 14-point lead to 34 in a matter of four minutes for Lake City (14-3, 3-1).

“I liked it a lot,” Carlson said of playing in the madness of the Fish game, which consists of 3 1/2 hours of screaming with basketball as somewhat of a subplot. “I just kept telling myself, something I read in the book “Toughness” (by Jay Bilas), he said ‘I don’t give a (crap), let’s just win. So I kept thinking, you just block it (the noise) out. It’s all about the game, winning, doing everything you can to win.”

Junior post Lauren Rewers added 12 points for Lake City, and freshman post Bridget Rieken chipped in 10 points off the bench. The Timberwolves displayed some nice ball movement, and senior guard Olivia Maryon had seven assists to go with her five points. Four of those assists came in the first quarter as Lake City jumped out to a 16-8 lead.

“I thought our energy and attacking the basket was huge,” Kelly said. “I thought this was the best game Lauren’s ever played. She’s finishing; she’s slowed down. Olivia Maryon was unreal — seven assists, and she held (Emily) Callahan to two points — which was there in the last minute of the game.”

Coeur d’Alene (6-9, 0-4), which lost to Lake City for the third time this season, had a tough time shooting against the Timberwolves’ size inside. The Vikings finished 7 of 37 from the floor, and committed 23 turnovers. Still, Coeur d’Alene hung around until Lake City began its decisive run midway through the third quarter. Junior guard Taryn Horvath led Coeur d’Alene with six points.

“This was the best game we’ve played all year,” Kelly said. “We talked about limiting fouls — we still foul too much — so we talked about our guards not reaching. We’re pretty athletic when we want to be, and we need to use that as an advantage, and not get into foul trouble.

Coeur d’Alene travels to Lakeland on Tuesday.

Lake City has a big 5A IEL home game vs. Post Falls on Friday.

Lake City 16 13 24 3 — 56

Coeur d’Alene 8 7 6 4 — 25

LAKE CITY — Dvorak 2, Carlson 18, K. Maryon 2, Rieken 10, Vershum 0, Rewers 12, O. Maryon 5, Meier 3, Halliday 0, Simpson 4.

COEUR d’ALENE — Miller 0, Horvath 6, Kane 0, Callahan 2, Fagan 3, Bojorquez 0, Rollins 5, Louden 4, Hollibaugh 2, Horning 3.