Rieken does a little bit of everything for Lake City
COEUR d’ALENE — In soccer, they refer to it as workrate.
In basketball, they call it ... well, whatever they call it, Bridget Rieken did it as the top-seeded Lake City Timberwolves held off the pesky fourth-seeded Lewiston Bengals 57-53 in the first round of the 5A Region 1 high school girls basketball tournament Friday night at Lake City.
Rieken, who has signed to play soccer at Washington State, finished with 16 points, 13 rebounds, and at least a couple steals and assists to help Lake City (19-3) advance to the regional championship game.
“The one thing Bridget did really well tonight was, she stayed out of foul trouble,” Lake City coach James Anderson said. “When she does that, it allows Bridget to be Bridget. And we’ve seen this for four years now, the bigger the game, the better she plays. Not in the least surprised by her performance tonight. She was definitely all over the place, and she did a good job gettting downhill and getting to the rim.”
Among other things, Rieken, a 6-foot post, helped her point guard and running mate in soccer, Chloe Teets, bring the ball up against Lewiston’s 3/4-court pressure early. Once in the offense, she did a nice job driving to the basket, either scoring or finding open teammates. She formed a nice 1-2 inside duo with Brooklyn Rewers, a 6-3 sophomore who added 12 points. And then there was her rebounding, and defense.
“I get asked to do a lot,” Rieken said. “But with the help of my teammates, it makes it way easier, because I can always count on them to have my back also ... it’s a lot (of work), but I wouldn’t trade it.”
Lake City, ranked second in 5A in the final state media poll, will play host to No. 2 seed Coeur d’Alene (7-10) on Tuesday at 6:30 for a trip to state. Coeur d’Alene defeated No. 3 Post Falls 55-40 on Friday. Lewiston (9-12) will travel to Post Falls (5-17) on Tuesday at 6:30 in a loser-out game.
Senior Dejah Wilson added 10 points for Lake City, and Anderson praised the play of his bench. Aubrey Avery, a junior reserve guard, added nine points, including two big end-of-the quarter shots.
Just before the half, Avery snuck open on the right wing, took an inbounds pass from Teets, a senior, and buried a 3-pointer in the closing seconds for a 28-26 T-Wolf halftime lead. In the third quarter, her runner bounded in off the rim just before the buzzer to increase Lake City’s lead to 46-37.
Lewiston, which lost by just four points at Lake City two weeks ago, started strong on Friday, jumping out to a 17-9 lead late in the first quarter. The Timberwolves’ full-court pressure eventually got the best of the Bengals, and Lake City, helped by Rewers’ seven second-half points, led by as much as 12 midway through the fourth quarter.
But Lewiston, with just one senior on its roster, pulled within 3 with 42 seconds left on an elbow jumper by Kendyll Kinzer.
Kinzer then stole the ball near midcourt, and fed a Bengal teammate who was ahead of the pack, but she got a little excited and traveled in the lane before she could try the layup that would have cut the lead to 1.
Teets sank a free throw with 14.2 seconds left, and Wilson stole the ball in the Lewiston end and ran out the clock.
“We did a lot of good things,” Lewiston coach Steve Lear said. “The kids came into this game knowing that at one time this season they got beat by 40 by the same team (actually, by 24 points, but you get his drift). But we didn’t get beat by 40 (tonight), and when you have a game within 5 points with a minute and a half to go, you have an even chance to win. ... they made us work for everything we got.”
Kinzer, who has signed with Fresno State, totaled 20 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocked shots.
“I think they’re a little bit tougher because we’ve got to play so much attention to one player (Kinzer),” said Anderson, who said he was not surprised by the close score, as Lewiston has made big strides this season. “We probably over-compensate for Kinzer sometimes, and that leaves holes and problems elsewhere. Just having to pay attention to such a great player just sometimes overloads our zone a little bit.”
Junior post Caitlin Richardson added 10 points and eight rebounds for Lewiston, which battled gamely against Lake City’s size inside.
By midway through the third quarter, Lewiston had missed 6 of its 8 free throws. The Bengals finished 8 of 14 from the line; Lake City was 16 of 25.
Lewiston 17 9 11 16 — 53
Lake City 11 17 18 11 — 57
LEWISTON — Collins 0, Wells 8, Bausch 9, Kinzer 20, Grogan 0, Johnson 6, Ortiz 0, Taylor 0, Richardson 10.
LAKE CITY — Pickford 0, Avery 9, Muehlhausen 1, Mitchell 5, Teets 2, Rieken 16, Wilson 10, Rewers 12, Hawkins 2.