PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL: Coeur d'Alene speeds past Post Falls
JASON ELLIOTT/Press Coeur d'Alene sophomore Madi Symons drives past Post Falls defender Capri Sims and Skilar McLean during the first quarter of Tuesday's Inland Empire League game at Viking Court.
JASON ELLIOTT/Press Post Falls post Kaysha Walton passes the ball to the corner during the first half of Tuesday's Inland Empire League game at Viking Court.
COEUR d'ALENE — When things are going well on the defensive end, it can create points when it's difficult to find them on offense.
Early on, sans a crowd to bring that energy in an Inland Empire League matchup, Coeur d'Alene had to find it somewhere else.
As it turned out, it was in a pretty familiar spot.
Junior Skylar Burke scored a game-high 25 points — 15 coming in the second half — and sophomore Madi Symons added 17 points, leading the Vikings past the Trojans 67-45 in a matchup of 5A teams at Viking Court on Tuesday.
"They feed off each other really well," Coeur d'Alene coach Nicole Symons said. "We knew they'd try to key on Madi. Knowing that she's going to be face guarded and double-teamed. And the other girls are going to have to score when they get those opportunities. I think we're dialing things in, and getting ready to roll."
Coeur d'Alene (2-0, 1-0 IEL) led 16-4 after the first quarter, scoring 14 of the final 17 points in the period.
"Defense is kind of the backbone of this team and the culture I wanted to create," Symons said. "Everything starts on the defensive end and we're trying to improve each game on the offensive end. We struggled to score in the first quarter, but we scrambled and were getting a lot of fast-break points. We're just not shooting very well from the 3-point line yet, but that will come."
Americus Crane and Maya Blake scored nine points each for Post Falls (2-1, 2-1), which hadn't played since Nov. 19 at Lakeland.
"Neither team scored for a while," Post Falls coach Marc Allert said. "Their pressure got to us today. They sped us up, we were out of control and didn't handle it well at all."
Next Tuesday, Coeur d'Alene visits Lake City and Post Falls hosts Lewiston.
Coeur d'Alene hadn't played since a Nov. 17 win over Timberlake in Coeur d'Alene.
"Post Falls came out and played really good defense," Symons said. "They were really aggressive and in our face, and we didn't handle it really well in the first five minutes. But we're getting better, but it's hard to get into a rhythm because our games are few and far between. We just don't have as many games, or fans, and we're struggling to get out of the gates. Every team is in the same boat, so we've got to figure it out. But I was proud of our effort and the kids worked hard. We've got to figure out how to get out a little quicker in the beginning of games."
Blake converted on a free throw to cut the deficit to 39-30 late in the third quarter before the Vikings pulled away in the fourth.
"We finally got ourselves slowed down, ran some offense and got under control," Allert said. "We were a little more patient and then they turned up the heat, and we didn't match it."
Post Falls 4 17 13 11 — 45
Coeur d’Alene 16 16 18 17 — 67
POST FALLS — McLean 2, Nichols 0, Lovett 3, Grant 0, Buckley 5, Crane 9, Magnuson 4, Walton 0, Blake 9, Sims 8, Christensen 5.
COEUR d'ALENE — Matheson 4, Brainard-Adams 4, Whiteman 2, Symons 17, Johnson 3, Younker 7, Chavez 7, Froehlich 0, Phenicie 0, Burke 25.
