The run that got away

NAMPA — Needing a spark, Lake City Timberwolves senior Klaire Mitchell delivered an early one on Thursday afternoon.

Trailing by 10 points midway through the first half, Mitchell scored five points in the final minute to cut the halftime deficit to a single possession.

However, Meghan Boyd of Eagle answered with a run of her own in the third quarter — a run Lake City was ultimately unable to overcome.

Boyd — who has signed with Denver — hit five 3-pointers in the second half for Eagle, and scored 17 of her game-high 22 points after intermission as the Mustangs defeated the Timberwolves 63-52 in the first round of the state 5A girls basketball tournament at the Ford Idaho Center.

“We didn’t do a good job of finding Boyd,” second-year Lake City coach James Anderson said. “We talked about it a little bit at halftime, that she’d gotten clean looks and missed them, and we couldn’t afford to do that again. She’s a great shooter and she’s going to find her spots, and she did a great job of finding her spots. We gave them a nice little run, but it was a little too late.”

Mitchell finished with 18 points for Lake City (20-4), which faces Rigby (18-8) today at 12:15 p.m. PST in a loser-out game at the Ford Idaho Center. Eagle (20-5) faces Boise (18-6) in a semifinal game tonight at 5:15. Boise beat Rigby 58-43 in other 5A play.

Lake City, the Region 1 champion, fell behind 12-6 in the first quarter, and 22-12 early in the second half before rallying to cut the deficit to 24-22 at halftime.

“At the beginning, we had some turnovers, nerves and all that stuff,” Mitchell said. “At the start of the second quarter, we started to get a little more settled into our defense and got some shots to fall and the end of the quarter.”

Lake City took its first lead of the game at 31-29 with 3:35 remaining in the third quarter on a pair of free throws by Bridget Rieken.

“Every time this team has been punched in the mouth, they’ve responded all year long,” Anderson said. “There was a prime opportunity to fade away, and a lot of teams would have faded away in that situation. But they stepped up and got it done and made a nice little run and came out of the second half a little fired up.”

Sophomore post Brooklyn Rewers added 11 points and nine rebounds for Lake City, at state for the first time since back-to-back trips in 2016 and ’17.

“We did a good job of finding Brooklyn today,” Anderson said. “The teams in our league had done a good job of taking her out of the gameplan, and she works hard to get the ball. We did a better job of finding her, and she did a good job of finishing at the rim.”

Rieken, a senior post, finished with 11 of her 13 points in the second half.

“All these girls that are seniors are so resilient,” Anderson said. “They’re going to fight, fight, fight until the end and make good things happen. And we made some good things happen today.”

Lake City forced 18 turnovers, but had 16 of its own — which led to 19 Eagle points.

“I thought our press was decent,” Anderson said. “We forced them into some turnovers, but our turnover ratio is a little better than 18 to 16. We needed to be in the 25 range to win this game, and we were close.”

Eagle, the second seed from District 3 (Boise area), finished second at state each of the last two years. The Mustangs lost to Post Falls in last year’s title game.

“They’re a really good team,” Eagle coach Cody Pickett said of Lake City. “They play really good competition, and they’re a good basketball team. They’re long and play that 2-3 zone that frustrates you. We’re very fortunate to get a win today. It was a very tough first-round matchup.”

Lake City shot 19 of 52 from the field, while Eagle was 21 of 44 — 12 of 18 in the second half. Eagle went on a 17-2 run at the outset of the fourth quarter to put it away.

“I think we can build on what we did wrong in this game and counter that in the next game,” Rewers said.

Lake City is seeking its first trophy at state since 2016, when the Timberwolves won the consolation championship game.

“After a season like this, you want to finish it the right way,” Anderson said. “Only a few teams have a chance to finish the season on a two-game win streak, and we’ve got a chance to be one of those. We want to come back and fight. This team deserves to put a trophy in the trophy case. And we can do that with two straight wins.”

Eagle 12 12 15 24 — 63

Lake City 8 14 14 16 — 52

EAGLE — Boyd 22, deVera 4, Michalik 0, King 12, Bockholdt 2, Murray 4, McKinnie 14, Stokoe 0, Peters 5. Totals 21-44 14-20 63.

LAKE CITY — Pickford 0, Avery 0, Muehlhausen 0, Mitchell 18, Teets 3, Rieken 13, Miller 0, Littman 0, Wilson 7, Rewers 11, Hawkins 0, Chase 0, Parks 0, Butler 0. Totals 19-52 9-19 52.