5A REGION 1 GIRLS BASKETBALL: Post Falls ousts Lake City for second straight year

By JASON ELLIOTT

Sports writer

COEUR d’ALENE — The Post Falls girls, if nothing else, haven't had things simple this season.

But at least, on Thursday, difficult was just fine.

Junior Trinidie Nichols gave the Trojans a 39-38 lead with 25 seconds remaining on a pair of free throws, then sophomore Brielle Magnuson capped the scoring with a pair of her own, as the third-seeded Trojans eliminated the second-seeded Lake City Timberwolves with a 41-38 victory in the 5A Region 1 second-place game at Lake City High.

“I told the kids before the game that effort and execution were going to be the key,” Post Falls coach Marc Allert said. “Lake City was coming off an emotional game for them and I watched that game and thought we were going to have to match their intensity. And I thought we did tonight. Our guards put a lot of pressure on and did a good job defensively. We got to the basket and caused some foul trouble.”

Last Friday, Lake City beat Post Falls 45-41 in the regional opener.

“I think we got to the basket a lot better and were more aggressive offensively,” Allert said. “I think we hurt ourselves missing too many layups in the first half and free throws, so it could have been easier. But we haven’t done anything easy all year, so why start now?”

Last year, Post Falls won at Lake City to advance to state in the second-place game.

Thursday night's win on the T-Wolves' home floor sent Post Falls to a state play-in game on Saturday, where the Trojans will face Rocky Mountain of Meridian at 3 p.m. in Grangeville for a berth to state.

Magnuson finished with 11 points, senior Dylan Lovett seven for Post Falls (13-7).

“We talked a little bit about that and were in a similar position last year,” Allert said. “We talked about whoever comes out and wants it the most, and it could have gone either way. We made some plays at the end. I thought Dylan did her normal great job of defending and playing great. She just didn’t want it to be her last game.”

Brooklyn Rewers, the Michigan State signee, scored 10 points in her final game for Lake City (13-7). Ashlynn Shanley, also a senior, also scored 10.

“There were a lot of things that we probably could have done better,” Lake City coach James Anderson said. “I’m proud of these seniors. They just fought and fought. It was a physical game and it didn’t go our way. Credit to Post Falls for really getting into us and doing what they needed to do.”

On Tuesday, Lake City led early in the fourth quarter before falling to top-ranked Coeur d'Alene 55-49 in the regional championship game.

“It’s a game of inches, and so many things didn’t go our way,” Anderson said. “We tried numerous different things and nothing seemed to go our way tonight. One of the toughest things to do in sports is bounce back from an emotional game. I don’t know if that affected us, but we just couldn’t find any rhythm tonight and Post Falls did a good job of making sure we never found it.”

Rocky Mountain was the ninth seed to the District 3 tournament, but beat No. 4 Borah of Boise and No. 6 Skyview of Nampa at districts to keep its season alive.

“I watched them play a little bit (Wednesday) night, and they’re the opposite of Lake City,” Allert said. “They’re more outside orientated, so it will be a lot like playing ourselves. So we’ll see how that goes.”

Post Falls 14 8 7 12 — 41

Lake City 9 14 9 6 — 38

POST FALLS — McLean 0, Nichols 4, Lovett 7, Sims 3, Buckley 0, Crane 0, Magnuson 11, Blake 10, Christensen 6.

LAKE CITY — Pickford 0, Miller 0, Zufelt 9, Shanley 10, Reynolds 2, Rewers 10, Jenkins 0, Parks 2, Hawkins 5.