5A REGION 1 GIRLS BASKETBALL: Vikings Pressing on ... Coeur d'Alene romps past Lake City to win third regional title in four years

By JASON ELLIOTT

Sports writer

COEUR d'ALENE — Coeur d’Alene High knew walking into the 5A Region 1 title game that it had earned the top seed to state, should it advance to the tournament starting next week.

Pressure?

The Vikings made sure it was all on their opponents.

Coeur d’Alene, sparked by three 3-pointers in the first quarter, jumped out to a 33-16 halftime lead en route to a 56-35 win over the second-seeded Lake City Timberwolves in the regional championship game, the Vikings' third title in the last four years.

Lake City upset Coeur d’Alene 63-57 in the title game last year.

“We watched film and knew exactly what they were going to do,” Coeur d’Alene coach Nicole Symons said. “We practiced it and it carried over into the game. These girls, they were dialed in from the tipoff and played really high IQ basketball for us on the defensive end. Just understanding our switches and when we’re not switching. I’m just super proud of them. I told them before the game that the first three minutes will set the tone of the game and they did a great job of that.”

In last year’s regional second-place game, Post Falls upset Coeur d’Alene, ending the Vikings' season.

“I think I’ve been more worried about it than they were, so I’ve been afraid to send that vibe out there,” Symons said. “I just wanted their hard work to show and deserve to get where we wanted to go. Our bench was in tune with the game and had great energy and Teagan (Colvin) hit shots when we needed to, (Madi) Symons rebounded the heck out of the ball. (Kendall) Omlin, just defensively and scoring when we needed her to and (Madison) Mitch (Mitchell) just full-court defense. They all came in and did their role. We just needed everyone to do their part to the best of their ability and they did that tonight.”

Lake City, which lost to Coeur d'Alene for the third time in three meetings this season, had six field goals in the first half.

“I think we took a lot of pride in our defense, which was a game-changer for sure,” Coeur d’Alene senior Madi Symons said. “We just came in confident and ready to win. We’d been waiting for that moment for a year, and it’s here.”

Coeur d'Alene opens at state against the No. 8 seed on Feb. 16 at 6 p.m. PST at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa.

On Thursday, Lake City (18-5) hosts Post Falls (18-5), which eliminated Lewiston with a 65-33 win at The Arena in Post Falls. Lake City beat Post Falls 66-49 in the opening round last Friday at Lake City.

Lewiston finishes 6-16.

“We’ve got to leave this one here,” Lake City coach James Anderson said. “We have to move forward. It’s a very difficult game on Thursday and has been a tough one for teams in the past coming from losing the championship game in the past. So we’ve got to turn that around and did a good job of that at state last year on the third day after having that tough loss. Hopefully we’ll channel some of that and we had some good moments where we started popping the ball and did some good things. We’ve just got to make sure we’re ready to give it full gas on Thursday.”

Coeur d’Alene 56, Lake City 35: Colvin, a transfer from Liberty High in Spangle, Wash., scored 15 of her 17 points in the first half for the Vikings.

“We have a great group this year and we’ve been coached up really well,” Colvin said. “I really appreciate everything that Nicole’s done. Our biggest thing has been really good chemistry. For me, I’m really blessed to join them and we’re having fun doing it.”

Colvin has over 20 Division I offers, including Power 5 schools like Michigan, Kansas, Washington State, Wisconsin, Arkansas and Northwestern, as well as BYU and Eastern Washington.

“I’ve played with most of the kids in the starting five for years,” said Colvin, a junior. “To get an entire season with them has been awesome. We’ve had a bond for a while and to bring it onto the basketball court has been awesome.”

Madi Symons, who has signed with Wyoming, scored 14 of her game-high 19 points in the second half for Coeur d’Alene.

“The fan base here was surreal on both sides,” Symons said. “It was just a fun game to play in. They’re a really good team. At no point in that game was it easy. Just playing in that game and realizing we really got that, it was surreal for sure.”

“We didn’t start the game we needed to,” Anderson said. “They hit a bunch of 3s and get to the foul line a bunch of times in the first quarter. We’re playing from behind against a team that’s very good at controlling the tempo. They’ve got the momentum and confidence, and that’s sometimes how the game flows.”

Junior Avery Waddington and senior Emberlyn Reynolds scored 10 points each for Lake City.

“We just couldn’t seem to find any rhythm,” Anderson said. “Credit to them for being really physical with us and bogging us and everything we were trying to do. We’ve obviously got to find a way to be better.”

Lake City is 3-0 vs. Post Falls this season.

Lake City 6 10 8 11 — 35

Coeur d’Alene 18 15 13 10 — 56

LAKE CITY — Kolden 0, Frazey 0, Pickford 4, Bowman 2, Zufelt 4, Waddington 10, McKellips 5, Holzer 0, Reynolds 10, Zimmerman 0.

COEUR d’ALENE — Colvin 17, Mitchell 8, Awbery 5, Omlin 7, Symons 19, Paulson 0, Lopez 0, Holecek 0, Legg 0, Carroll 0.

Post Falls 65, Lewiston 33: Senior Capri Sims, who has signed with Division II Central Washington in Ellensburg, Wash., had 25 points, 15 rebounds and five assists — all in three quarters — for the Trojans in a loser-out game against the Bengals. She eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for her career in the third quarter, and is now at 1,005.

“Capri is just an amazing athlete and person,” Post Falls coach Brian Hall said. “She just works hard and earns everything she gets.”

Junior guard Brooklyn Brennan scored 16 points for Post Falls, which led 19-8 after the first quarter.

“We knew we needed to come out quick,” said Hall, whose team snapped a five-game losing streak. “We kind of remembered what we used to do when we won ballgames and ran the floor. We did a good job of scoring tonight.”

Zoie Kessinger scored 11 points for Lewiston.

Lewiston 8 8 9 8 — 33

Post Falls 19 15 24 7 — 65

LEWISTON — Arellano 0, DeGroot 5, B. Albright 2, Delich 0, D. Albright 0, McKarcher 8, Z. Kessinger 11, Patterson 0, Jackson 3, Burke 4.

POST FALLS — McLean 3, Berg 4, Walton 6, McGowan 1, Blodgett 0, Brennan 16, Sims 25, Mitley 10, Miller 0, Hollenbeck 0.