Done the right way
LOREN BENOIT/Press From left, Lake City players Chloe Teets, Klaire Mitchell and Dejah Wilson celebrate their 44-30 5A Region 1 championship win over Coeur d’Alene on Tuesday night at Lake City High.
Lake City’s Chloe Teets shoots a three pointer in the second half of Tuesday night’s 5A Region 1 championship game against Coeur d’Alene. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
Coeur d’Alene’s Skylar Burke dribbles the ball down the court in the first half of Tuesday night’s 5A Region 1 championship game against Lake City. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
Lake City’s Dejah Wilson, left, and Sara Muehlhausen hold the 5A Region 1 Championship trophy after defeating Coeur d’Alene 44-30. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
Coeur d’Alene’s Eily Minerath passes the ball to Jaelyn Brainard-Adams in Tuesday night’s game against Lake City. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
Coeur d’Alene’s Jaelyn Brainard-Adams shoots a three in the first half of Tuesday night’s 5A Region 1 championship game against Lake City. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
Coeur d’Alene’s Jaden Chavez dribbles the ball down the court during Tuesday night’s game at Lake City. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
Hundreds watch the 5A Region 1 championship game between Lake City and Coeur d’Alene. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
The Lake City High School girls varsity basketball team poses with their 5A Region 1 championship trophy after defeating Coeur d’Alene 44-30. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
COEUR d’ALENE — On any given night, with the right depth, anyone can provide the spark to get a team to a certain goal.
Tuesday, was Aubrey Avery’s night for Lake City.
Avery hit four 3-pointers to finish with 12 points, and the top-seeded Timberwolves beat the second-seeded Coeur d’Alene Vikings 44-30 in the 5A Region 1 girls basketball championship game at Lake City High.
“I’m just trying to do my best each game, one step at a time,” said Avery, a junior guard. “The seniors mean the world to me, and I just wanted to do my best for them.”
Lake City (20-3), ranked second in 5A in the state media poll, claimed its first regional title since 2016, and advances to the state 5A tournament starting next Thursday at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa. Lake City will face the loser of Friday’s District 3 championship game between top-ranked Mountain View (22-0) and third-ranked Eagle (19-4) next Thursday at 12:15 p.m. PST.
“I’m really happy for the girls and the kids,” second-year Lake City coach James Anderson said. “To have the year that we had, we wanted to finish it tonight and keep things rolling. Playing in the tournament in Vancouver (Wash.) really helped us get ready for this situation. We definitely wanted to win the district title and do things the right way after a year like this.”
Avery hit a pair of 3-pointers to push Lake City’s lead to 33-21 with 1:30 remaining in the third quarter.
“I just took it one shot a time,” Avery said. “The Den (student section) helps us every step. It was big to do this in front of our friends and parents. It just means everything to me.”
“Aubrey, she put in so many hours working on her game during the spring and summer,” Anderson said. “She shoots the ball hours on end. We see her do it in practice all the time, so we’re not surprised in the least to see her do it that. We knew there was a good chance they were going to play a zone and make us hit some 3s and take away our inside game, and knew she’d be a factor if they were able to do that.”
Lake City forced Coeur d’Alene into 16 turnovers with its full-court press.
“That’s been huge for us all year,” Anderson said. “In the half-court offense, we’re very mediocre. To get into a flow and a rhythm, we’ve got to be in our press. And that’s been a huge key for us all year, and was a huge factor tonight.”
“They’re a tall group,” third-year Coeur d’Alene coach Scott Stockwell said. “They’re very well coached. Powerful, up-in-your-face defense. We’re young and learning still. I’m proud of the way our kids battled.”
Bridget Rieken scored a game-high 13 points — nine from the free-throw line — for Lake City.
“We knew she was going to be really good,” Anderson said. “She’s just a warrior and a fighter. As are a lot of our kids that go out and lay their bodies on the line. She was really aggressive and probably what we needed. And she played really well.”
Kelly Horning scored 12 points — all in the second half — for Coeur d’Alene (7-11), which hosts Post Falls in the Region 1 second-place game on Thursday at Viking Court.
The winner of that game advances to a state play-in game on Saturday in Grangeville against the District 3 fifth-place team.
“We just know that we’ve got another game on Thursday,” Stockwell said. “We’ve got Post Falls on Thursday, and we’re going to be ready for them. I want to get these girls some experience, and this was a great experience game for our girls and definitely something to build on.”
Coeur d’Alene was trying to win its first regional title since 2014, when the Vikings captured the state 5A title.
Coeur d’Alene 3 8 10 9 — 30
Lake City 7 12 14 11 — 44
COEUR d’ALENE — Minerath 0, Brainard-Adams 2, Whiteman 3, Younker 1, Chavez 3, Horning 12, Burke 9.
LAKE CITY — Pickford 0, Avery 12, Muehlhausen 0, Mitchell 5, Teets 4, Rieken 13, Wilson 10, Rewers 0, Hawkins 0.
Post Falls 57
Lewiston 50
POST FALLS — Dylan Lovett scored 10 of her 14 points in the fourth quarter for the third-seeded Trojans, who trailed after three quarters before rallying to beat the fourth-seeded Bengals in a loser-out game in the 5A Region 1 tournament at The Arena.
“I kept telling the girls, I thought we outplayed them the entire game — but shots weren’t falling,” Post Falls coach Marc Allert said. “I just told them to keep battling. Finally we hit a couple shots, and things started going our way.”
Bubba Gleaves sank a 3-pointer midway through the fourth quarter to give Post Falls (6-17) the lead for good. Lovett also had eight rebounds and seven steals, Ali Carpenter 10 points, Maya Blake 10 rebounds.
Fresno State signee Kendyll Kinzer scored 14 points for Lewiston, which finished 9-13.
“Dylan and Jenna (Gardiner) did a great job on Kinzer,” Allert said.
Post Falls plays at Coeur d’Alene on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.; the winner advances to a state play-in game Saturday at Grangeville, the loser is eliminated.
Lewiston 10 20 12 8 — 50
Post Falls 10 16 11 20 — 57
LEWISTON — Wells 12, Bausch 4, Kinzer 14, Grogan 3, Johnson 6, Ortiz 4, Richardson 7.
POST FALLS — Johnson 2, Blake 5, Gardiner 8, Gleaves 6, Smith 2, LaFountaine 5, Fleming 5, Lovett 14, Carpenter 10.