St. Maries on to state for first time since 2002

GENESEE — After going this long without qualifying for state, the St. Maries Lumberjacks didn’t want to wait a few days longer.

Kelsey Auer totaled 15 points and five assists as the Lumberjacks defeated the Grangeville Bulldogs 61-42 in the championship game of the 2A District 1-2 girls basketball tournament Tuesday night.

St. Maries (15-4) earned a trip to state for the first time since 2002.

“It’s been a long time, a long dry spell,” St. Maries coach Jay Sines said. “They played with a lot of heart tonight; they were not going to be denied tonight.”

State is Feb. 16-18 at Bishop Kelly High in Boise. St. Maries will play in the tourney opener Feb. 16 at 12:15 p.m. PST vs. the District 3 runner-up.

Devyn Wilson added 11 points, 11 rebounds and six steals off the bench for St. Maries. Paige Sines scored 14 points, and Madison Cordell had five assists.

Guard Paige Lindsley scored 13 points for Grangeville (10-10), which plays Orofino (10-11) on Thursday for second place and a spot in a Saturday state play-in game.

“We ran a couple different presses, gave them a little trouble getting up the court,” Jay Sines said. “Our girls did a good job defensively against their guards.”

Grangeville 14 9 11 8 — 42

St. Maries 16 13 11 21 — 61

GRANGEVILLE — Lindsley 13, Dane 0, Lutz 4, Roberts 0, Norman 4, Bush 0, Kennedy 9, Kelly 10, Ruzicka 2, Hill 0, Canaday 0.

ST. MARIES — Sines 14, Peet 2, Borgman 0, Haeg 6, Cordell 2, Davenport 0, Wilson 11, Kel. Auer 15, Holder 7, Kay. Auer 4.

Lakeland 74

Moscow 45

COEUR d’ALENE — The third-seeded Hawks came up with an offensive explosion at just the right time, shooting 30 for 48 from the field — including 12 for 16 from 3-point range — to blast the second-seeded Bears in a loser-out game at the 4A Region 1 tournament at North Idaho College’s Rolly Williams Court.

Tauna Kirk hit 4 of 4 3-pointers and scored 21 points for Lakeland (3-18), and Lauryn Cooper hit 4 of 5 3s and added 20 points.

“We just didn’t miss many shots,” Lakeland coach Steve Seymour said. “The basket just got a whole lot bigger tonight. It was shooting with confidence. Kids were lining up, taking dead aim, and knocking them down.”

Sofi Schnepf had 14 points, eight rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots, and Madi Farris had four steals for the Hawks, whose offensive output was 22 points higher than their previous best this season.

“We said it’s going to happen, but there’s never a guarantee it’s going to happen,” Seymour said of the scoring outburst. “But it should happen, as hard as these kids work. To come into a loser-out game with just two wins on the season, and to play this fearless, I’m just dumbfounded, and really proud. It was quite a performance. We’re pretty excited to play Thursday night.”

Lakeland will play No. 1 seed Sadnpoint (9-11) on Thursday at 8 p.m. at NIC in the championship game for the region’s lone berth to state.

Gracey Meyer scored a game-high 24 points for Moscow (6-13).

Lakeland 16 28 17 13 — 74

Moscow 13 12 13 7 — 45

LAKELAND — Cooper 20, Loutzenhiser 5, Schnepf 14, Edinger 5, Farris 4, Elpers 2, Neff 0, Kirk 21, Charles 0, Stutheit 0, Pruitt 2, Boyer 2, Dowd 0.

MOSCOW — Haeder 4, Rauch 8, Carscallen 0, Meyer 24, Minden 6, Smith 0, Waters 0, Jung 3, Gerko 0.

Timberlake 89

Priest River 32

COEUR d’ALENE — Jacquelyn Mallet, in her second game back following a concussion, scored 17 of her 19 points in the first half as the top-seeded Tigers, ranked No. 1 in 3A, rolled past the Spartans in the semifinals of the 3A District 1 tournament at North Idaho College’s Rolly Williams Court.

Keelie Lawler added 15 points, Kayle Jezek 11 for Timberlake (19-2), which led 34-5 after one quarter and 57-13 at halftime.

“Jacquelyn had a great game,” Timberlake coach Matt Miller said. “I was surprised we scored 34 in the first quarter. Three minutes into the game, it was like 10-5.”

Timberlake will take on Bonners Ferry (9-8) in the championship game Thursday at 6:15 at NIC.

Priest River (6-15) will face Kellogg (10-10) in a loser-out game at 4:30.

Priest River 5 8 12 7 — 32

Timberlake 34 23 19 13 — 89

PRIEST RIVER — Hurd 1, Downs 0, Fink 8, Sommers 8, Krampert 0, Potthoff 0, Kren 3, Martin 4, Akre 2, DeMent 6.

TIMBERLAKE — Tonkin 4, Kelley 5, Kronenberg 9, Mallet 19, Starr 5, Jezek 11, Kirby 8, Cheevers 10, Linehan 3, Bronson 0, Lawler 15.

Bonners Ferry 54

Kellogg 45

COEUR d’ALENE — The second-seeded Wildcats fell behind by as much as 17 points in the second half in the loss to the third-seeded Badgers in the semifinals of the 3A District 1 tournament at North Idaho College.

Abby Arthur scored 15 points to lead Kellogg (10-10), which plays No. 4 Priest River (6-15) on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. at NIC in a loser-out game.

Kellogg made just 1 of 20 3-point attempts in the first half against Bonners Ferry (9-8), after the teams split their two meetings in Intermountain League play.

“I thought defensively we didn’t do a great job,” Kellogg coach Eli Bourgard said. “Defensively we didn’t get off the bus.”

A box score was unavailable.

Genesis Prep 65

Kootenai 45

RATHDRUM — Bella Murekatete had 29 points and 18 rebounds for the Jaguars in a win over the Warriors in 1A Division II District 1 semifinal game at Lakeland High.

“It was a great start for us tonight,” Genesis Prep coach Debbie Holte said. “Everyone was playing great and played really good basketball as a team. It was fun to watch and a pleasure to coach. The girls prepapred well for this game and it was good to see them put it out there at game time.”

Rachel Schroeder scored 15 points for Genesis Prep (12-5), which faces Lakeside in the championship game on Thursday at Lakeland High. Lakeside (15-1) beat Clark Fork (3-14) 45-20 in the other semifinal on Tuesday.

Kootenai finishes 5-10.

Kootenai 9 14 4 18 — 45

Genesis Prep 26 14 16 9 — 65

KOOTENAI — individual scoring not available.

GENESIS PREP — Nies 0, Morrow 8, Imanzi 4, Schroeder 15, Blood 2, Lee 1, Scribner 6, Jones 0, Kim 0, Martin 0, Murekatete 29.

Lakeside 45

Clark Fork 20

RATHDRUM — Lillian Rhea had 16 points, six rebounds and three assists to lead the Knights past the Wampus Cats in a semifinal game in the 1A Division II District 1 tournament at Lakeland High.

Racheal Arthur had six points, seven assists and three steals for Lakeside (15-1), which faces Genesis Prep in the championship game on Thursday.

Brooke Stevens scored 14 points for Clark Fork, which finishes 3-18.

Clark Fork 4 8 4 4 — 20

Lakeside 9 9 14 13 — 45

CLARK FORK — Stevens 14, Lambert 2, Hathaway 2, Young 0, Semko 2, Kiebert 0, Sutton 0.

LAKESIDE — Palmer 0, Rhea 16, S. Pakootas 0, SiJohn 0, Adrian 0, Daman 8, T. Pakootas 3, Arthur 6, Lambert 2, Peone 10, Olson 0.