STATE GIRLS BASKETBALL PLAY-IN GAMES: Post Falls, Wallace on to state

GRANGEVILLE — Early in the fourth quarter, Post Falls saw its 25-15 halftime lead dwindle down to just three points, so Trojan coach Marc Allert called timeout.

“We just tried to get refocused again and play with some composure,” he said.

So, the Trojans did.

Junior Capri Sims had 21 points and 15 rebounds as the Trojans beat the Owyhee Storm of Meridian 52-39 in a state 5A play-in game at Grangeville High on Saturday, returning to state for the third straight season.

Owyhee, a first-year school, cut the deficit to 39-36 with seven minutes remaining. Post Falls outscored Owyhee 13-3 the rest of the game.

“We got out to a good start in the first quarter, and played pretty well in the first half,” Allert said. “We had some turnovers that kept it a little closer than it should have been. That could have been from the big game the other night (upsetting Inland Empire League champion Coeur d'Alene in Thursday’s Region 1 second-place game at Coeur d’Alene). Owyhee did some good things defensively and got it down to three. We just lost our focus and regained it.”

Senior Hanna Christensen scored 11 points for Post Falls (18-7), which opens at state with Boise (19-3), which claimed the District 3 title over Timberline on Friday.

“We’ll have our hands full with that,” Allert said. “Having six seniors and being there before, they’ve got a good idea what it’s about. They’re all anxious to get back and finish it off at the state tournament.”

Freshman Josie Davis scored 15 points for Owyhee (14-13).

Owyhee 9 6 17 8 — 39

Post Falls 17 8 14 13 — 52

OWYHEE — Davis 15, Atchley 13, Brooks 2, Hanchett 0, Roy 6, Beck 3.

POST FALLS — Nichols 2, Heath 8, Brennan 0, Sims 21, Asper 1, Crane 9, Christensen 11.

Weiser 32

Timberlake 23

GRANGEVILLE — The Tigers, regulars at state for the last decade-plus, saw their season come to an end with the loss to the Wolverines in a state 3A play-in game at Grangeville High.

“We had a lot of turnovers,” Timberlake coach Matt Miller said. “We had a hard time scoring the ball.”

Timberlake (16-7) didn’t score until Jenna Chase’s 3-pointer at the first-quarter buzzer. Chase led the Tigers with nine points.

Still, the game was tied at 18 heading into the fourth quarter. Leading 23-21, Tobie Noyer, Weiser’s 6-foot-junior point guard, hit a 3 to up the lead to five.

“Which, in this game, felt like a 15-point lead,” Miller said.

The loss kept Timberlake from state for the first time since 2013. Since that year, the Tigers won four state titles, finished second twice and placed third twice.

Junior Mattie Shirts scored nine points for Weiser (19-7), which advances to state starting Thursday at Eagle High.

Timberlake, hit hard by graduation after winning back-to-back state titles, still won the Intermountain League, then lost to Kellogg in the District 1 title game, forcing the Tigers to take a longer road to state.

“It was a bit of a rollercoaster,” Miller said of the season. “We had some moments where we played well and were overachieving, and some moments we struggled. The biggest thing we were missing was consistency.”

Timberlake 3 7 8 5 — 23

Weiser 7 5 6 14 — 32

TIMBERLAKE — Soumas 3, Dickinson 0, Webberley 0, Kronenberg 6, MacArthur 0, Wall 2, Needs 1, Patrick 2, Chase 9.

WEISER — Lerew 6, Reed 2, Pope 0, Yraguen 4, Morris 3, Maloney 2, Shirts 9, Noyer 6, Rynearson 0, Eames 0.

Wallace 45

Clearwater Valley 38

POST FALLS — For the first time since even before the current class of seniors was even in school, the Miners are headed to state.

Senior Jaden House scored 16 points and the Miners held off the Rams from Kooskia in a state 1A Division I play-in game at Post Falls High School.

The win sends Wallace (15-4) to state for the first time since 2008; state begins Thursday at Columbia High in Nampa.

“It’s just crazy,” House said. “I’ve put a lot of time in the gym, my teammates have put a lot of time in the gym, some of us have been together since the third grade, so it means a lot to me to be able to go with these girls and have this experience after this many years.”

Wallace built a 29-16 halftime lead, only to see Clearwater Valley get hot from behind the arc, and get it down to six late in the third quarter. But the Rams cooled off, and though they pulled within four points late, the Miners were able to hold on.

“It’s kind of a shock,” fifth-year Wallace coach Nichole Farkas said. “It’s not a shock that they did it, but it’s just a shock to our systems, I think. We knew (Clearwater Valley) had some good girls that could drive really hard, and could shoot the 3-ball. So we decided to try to stay in our zone to prevent the drive, and worked really hard on good fundamental defense so we wouldn’t get into foul trouble.”

Senior Kadance Schilling scored 10 points for Clearwater Valley (15-9), the third-place team from District 2.

Sophomore Britany Phillips added 10 points for Wallace, which beat Lakeside on Thursday to win its first district title since 2013. House hit two 3s, Phillips one in a second-quarter flurry that hiked the Miners’ lead to 24-9.

Sometimes the District 1 champion advances directly to state. But since 2009, sometimes the District 1 champ has to play a District 2 team to get to state. And according to Wallace, prior to Saturday, only one Miners team had ever won one of those play-in games in basketball or volleyball — Wallace’s boys basketball team, in 2009, over Clearwater Valley.

“It’s always been kind of a hurdle that we haven’t been able to cross,” Farkas said.

Until this year.

“We knew we would be able to keep up with their tempo this year,” House said. “In past years we haven’t been able to play as fast as we can this year.”

Clearwater Valley 5 11 15 7 — 38

Wallace 8 21 11 5 — 45

CLEARWATER VALLEY — Pfefferkorn 5, Simmons 3, Morrow 2, E. Landgren 0, Schilling 10, T. Yocum 5, Tr. Yocum 2, Edwards 11.

WALLACE — Specht 3, House 16, Br. Phillips 10, Welch 6, Hendrick 4, Hemphill 0, Hunter 4, Taylor 2.

Deary 63

Clark Fork 30

POST FALLS — When there are roughly as many people sitting on the bench in street clothes as there are in uniform, you know the team might be at a little bit of a disadvantage.

The Wampus Cats fought the good fight, but eventually the numbers caught up to them in a loss to the Mustangs from District 2 in a state 1A Division II play-in game at Post Falls High.

Clark Fork was missing three starters.

Junior point guard Paige Valliere suffered a concussion two weeks ago. Junior Emily Myers, a starter last year, missed this season with an injury. And junior Breezy Fornier, the sixth man last year, suffered a torn rotator cuff in this year’s season opener and was out for the season.

“We have a pretty shallow bench, because we have so many younger girls this year that don’t have any experience,” fifth-year Clark Fork coach Jordan Adams said. “We’ve been playing with six pretty much all season, and just in the last two weeks it’s dropped down to five. And it shows when you play a bench that has seven or eight girls that obviously have experience at our level.”

Senior Katelyn Matteson scored 10 points to lead Clark Fork, which finished 4-10.

Sophomore Araya Wood scored 17 points for Deary (14-5), the second-place finisher from District 2, which advanced to state beginning Thursday at Nampa High.

Clark Fork and Deary were tied at 12 after one quarter, but the Wampus Cats, bidding for their first trip to state since 2012, were outscored 51-18 the rest of the way.

Sophomore Lilly Reuter scored eight points for Clark Fork, and freshman Hannah Thompson added seven.

“Paige is our top defender,” said Adams, who as Jordan Budd helped Kellogg reach the state 3A title game in 2006. “I would go so far as to say that Paige is the best defender in our league, and I would stick her at bigger schools as a better defender than most. That’s huge. Between missing your best defender, and not having the depth and the lungs and the legs, it makes a big difference.”

Deary 12 18 18 15 — 63

Clark Fork 12 4 7 7 — 30

DEARY — K. Wood 9, Kirk 12, Scott 4, A. Wood 17, Griffin 6, T. Wood 3, Ashmead 10, Workman 2.

CLARK FORK — Matteson 10, Shelton 5, Reuter 8, Yancy 0, Thompson 7, Weymouth 0, Drinnon 0, Herrick 0.