STATE 1A DIVISION I GIRLS BASKETBALL: Blocked up

NAMPA — You can make up for a lot of things by shooting the ball well on a basketball court.

Size isn’t one of them.

Lighthouse Christian senior Kynlee Thornton, a 5-foot-10 guard, had 24 points, 16 rebounds and 10 blocked shots as the Lions of Twin Falls held off the Lakeside Knights 53-40 in the first game of the state 1A Division II girls basketball tournament on Wednesday afternoon at Columbia High.

Lakeside, which does not have a player over 5-8, made just 18 of 75 shots from the field (24%). Lighthouse Christian (15-5) had 10 blocked shots, all coming from Thornton.

“We got outrebounded (60-54) and gave them a lot of extra chances (via 26 offensive rebounds),” Lakeside coach Chris Dohrman said. “They contested a lot of our shots and plays we usually make, we didn’t today. Whenever we’d get a shot we’d have a hand in our face.”

Thornton gave Lighthouse Christian a 13-7 lead after beating the buzzer with a 3-pointer to end the first quarter, then the Lions held the Knights scoreless for six minutes in the second quarter to take a 29-13 halftime lead.

“Once we got going in the second half, and I thought we won that second half, it was too late,” Dohrman said. “They made that 3-pointer at the end of the first quarter, and that was big. Even though we weren’t playing that well, we were still right there. That was kind of a big momentum swing in their favor. You’ve got to play four quarters, and we didn’t do that today. We’ll try to regroup and pick things up for game two.”

Lakeside was also 3 of 15 from the 3-point line. The Knights were 6 for 35 (17.1%) from the field in the first half.

“They just outran us on defense and offense,” sophomore Arianna Gorr said. “Our team kind of fell apart in the first half. We always seem to get down in the first half, and I don’t really know why.”

Gorr scored to cut the deficit to 39-25 midway through the third for Lakeside, capping an 8-0 run.

“I just wanted to keep playing and try to stay in the game,” Gorr said. “It was a lot harder and more of a faster pace than we’d seen previously. We came up and tried our hardest, but it didn’t seem to go our way today.”

Gorr scored 15 of her team-high 17 points in the second half for Lakeside (12-8), which faces Rimrock in a loser-out game today at 11 a.m. PST. Lighthouse Christian (15-5) faces Prairie (21-3) in the first semifinal game today at 4.

“Arianna did a good job of getting out and running the floor in the second half,” Dohrman said. “We needed a little bit more from some other players. We just didn’t get going early in the first half. It was a great game for Arianna, but just not the Lakeside Knights.”

Both Lakeside and Lighthouse Christian moved up from the Division II classification this year.

“I don’t really know how anyone is or how they played,” Lighthouse Christian coach Tia Stadlee said. “There were a lot of nerves on both sides coming into the game, and I think that showed early on.”

“She’s a workhorse and gives her best effort each game,” Stadlee said of Thornton. “A lot of that comes off of hard work.”

Jolissa Holt finished with eight points, and Ashlee Holt had six points and 10 rebounds for Lakeside.

“We focused on both of them,” Stadlee said. “Our main focus was to not let them shoot and let them get to the basket.”

Lighthouse Christian 13 16 13 11 — 53

Lakeside 7 6 14 13 — 40

LIGHTHOUSE CHRISTIAN — Rogers 0, Wolverton 13, Shetler 2, Boland 0, Gomez 2, Thornton 24, DeJong 4, Blakeslee 8. Totals 22-76 7-10 53.

LAKESIDE — A. Holt 6, Gorr 17, J. Holt 8, Twoteeth 0, Rivera 2, Peters 7, Marchand 0, Allen 0. Totals 18-75 1-2 40.

• STATE 1A DIVISION II

Rockland 56

Mullan 30

NAMPA — As it turned out, it was a bigger deal for the Tigers that they thought.

In their first appearance at state since 1986, the Tigers shot 25.6% (10 of 39) from the field, got outrebounded 50-27 and fell to the defending champion Bulldogs in a first-round game at Nampa High.

“I think the nerves really got to them,” 17th-year Mullan coach Sherry Leitz said. “The venue, the whole experience of being down here. Once they settled down and started to play our game, we came out and played better. We had fun and relaxed and the girls started to play more of their style of game and got some open looks.”

Senior Talowa Fallingwater scored eight of her 10 points in the first half for Mullan (10-8), which will face Camas County (14-7) in a loser-out game today at 11 a.m. PST. Camas County fell to Tri-Valley 48-35 in Wednesday’s first game.

Taylor Wilson had 11 points and 10 rebounds for Rockland (19-4), which forced 19 turnovers.

Rockland 17 14 15 10 — 56

Mullan 8 2 11 9 — 30

ROCKLAND — Petersen 5, Hansen 4, A. Wilson 4, Woodworth 0, T. Boyer 9, K. Boyer 8, Jensen 10, Lee 4, Tomkinson 0, T. Wilson 11, Farr 10, Smith 0. Totals 26-70 3-5 56.

MULLAN — Waters 2, Nelson 9, Blankenship 0, Stahle 0, Fallingwater 10, Charvez 2, Frazier 2, Dykes 5. Totals 10-39 6-12 30.