Lake City's girls learn from seeing the state's best in November
COEUR d’ALENE — No, it wasn’t quite like championship Saturday at Lake City High between Mountain View and the host Timberwolves.
But when that time comes in February in the Boise area, both the Mavericks of Meridian and Lake City could be heard from again.
“This was a great game for us to learn from,” Lake City coach James Anderson said after Mountain View’s 55-22 victory over the Timberwolves on Saturday afternoon at Lake City. “We can take a few things from what they do really, really well. Mountain View has a great program with a lot of talent and put a lot of pressure on us and disrupted what we wanted to do.”
Laila Saenz scored 13 points for Mountain View (2-0). Both teams opened the season on Friday, with Lake City holding off Boise 58-55 and Mountain View winning 66-23 at Lewiston. Boise won 50-40 at Lewiston on Saturday.
“It really simulates what a state tournament is like,” said Anderson of the afternoon game. “I know in my experience, it’s hard to come back and play really well after a big win. It’s something you’ve got to learn how to do, and something we definitely didn’t do today.”
Mountain View opened the game on a 9-0 run, which was answered by a five-point run by Lake City midway through the first quarter. The Mavericks outscored the Timberwolves 22-9 the rest of the half to take a 32-14 halftime lead. Lake City was held to one point in the third quarter.
Brooklyn Rewers had 12 points and nine rebounds for Lake City (1-1), which visits Moscow next Saturday.
“We were just fortunate that we were able to get going early on, and they struggled,” Mountain View coach Connie Skogrand said. “When we allowed her (Rewers) to get the ball inside, she was money and doesn’t miss. The kids defensively made some adjustments, and I was really proud of them to be able to do that in only the second game of the season.”
Mountain View beat Lake City 51-24 last November in Meridian.
The Timberwolves finished 2018 22-4 and fourth in 5A. Mountain View was runner-up at state, losing to Eagle in the title game. The Mavericks won state titles in 2015 and ’16.
“I really think that games like this help the game slow down later in league competition,” Anderson said. “It’s good to be exposed to real good competition and games like this. I was a little disappointed with our effort. Similar to the game with Mountain View last year, it was a turning point in our season. We had to look at each other and say, ‘We’ve got to crank this up a little.’ State title play is a lot different than where we’re at now. This is one I hope they think about for the rest of the year and a reference point. Even though they outplayed us, our energy wasn’t what it could have been. We could have played a little harder and made better decisions.”
Mountain View beat Lake City in the 2017 consolation title game.
“We want to see who else in the state is out there and might meet at the state tournament,” Skogrand said. “Lake City was there last year, and we knew it was going to be a good game for us. I know they lost some good guard play, and they’d be a little inexperienced at guard and tried to take advantage of that early on. We were able to pressure them at the half court, and they had a hard time seeing the big kids inside.”
Trinity Slocum, sister of former Mountain View star and current Oregon State guard Destiny Slocum, added nine points for the Mavericks.
Mountain View 20 12 9 14 — 55
Lake City 9 5 1 7 — 22
MOUNTAIN VIEW — Hester 2, Haun 2, Cook 6, Saenz 13, Kreiser 6, Morandi 6, Ojukwu 7, Williams 2, Slocum 9, Mundy 0, Duguay 2.
LAKE CITY — Pickford 5, Avery 0, Miller 2, Chase 2, Parks 0, Shanley 1, Roberts 0, Rewers 12, Hawkins 0, Munoz 0.