5A REGION 1 GIRLS BASKETBALL: Timberwolves beat Trojans again, advance to state play-in game
JASON DUCHOW PHOTOGRAPHY Sophia Zufelt (4) of Lake City goes up for a shot against Capri Sims of Post Falls in the 5A Region 1 girls basketball second-place game Thursday night at Lake City.
JASON DUCHOW PHOTOGRAPHY Avery Waddington of Lake City puts up a shot against Post Falls in the 5A Region 1 girls basketball second-place game Thursday night at Lake City.
By JASON ELLIOTT
Sports writer
COEUR d’ALENE — Lake City senior Emberlyn Reynolds was saving something special for her final game at home.
And at the right moment, Reynolds delivered Thursday.
Reynolds hit a 3-pointer with 3:25 remaining, the final points of the night for the second-seeded Lake City Timberwolves in a 66-59 win over the third-seeded Post Falls Trojans in the 5A Region 1 second-place game.
“Emberlyn told us in warmups that she was on fire and wanted to shoot a 3,” Lake City coach James Anderson said. “I kind of indicated no, because it hasn’t been here strength. But, you know, she’s a senior and been all in on us for the last few weeks. Credit to her, even though the coach said this, I’m doing this and made it happen.”
Junior Kamryn Pickford scored 11 of her team-high 20 points in the third quarter for Lake City (19-5), which advances to face Eagle, the fourth seed from District 3 in a state play-in game on Saturday at Grangeville High.
Post Falls finished 18-6, all six losses to Lake City (four times) and Coeur d'Alene (twice).
“Kamryn’s really good and got to the rim and made some 3s,” Anderson said. “Everyone is going to try to key on Soph (Sophia Zufelt) and Avery (Waddington) now, so we’ve got to find unique ways to score. We’re only going to be as good as the rest of our team, so it was good to see some other kids step up.”
Lake City led 21-12 after the first quarter, but Post Falls rallied to tie the game with 3:03 remaining in the half. The Timberwolves pulled away with a 11-1 run at the outset of the fourth quarter.
“We kicked ourselves early with turnovers, and that’s what they took advantage of early,” first-year Post Falls coach Brian Hall said. “The turnovers we had early, if we don’t commit those, it’s a lot closer. We kind of threw the ball away there early to them too many times. And that’s why they’re moving on and we’re not.”
Lake City beat Eagle 57-39 on Dec. 3 in Eagle.
“It’s always scary in a loser-out game,” Anderson said. “Eagle played us tough down there. They’ve got a Division I player (Paige Cofer, who has signed with Utah Tech) and a good supporting class. I’m sure they’re going to have a good game plan, and we’ll need to be ready to go.”
Senior Capri Sims, who has signed with Division II Central Washington in Ellensburg, finished with 28 points for Post Falls, which had been to state the past three seasons. Junior Brooklyn Brennan had 16, junior Kinlee McLean 12 for the Trojans.
“The girls did a great job this year,” Hall said. “Not a lot of teams can say they went 18-6. We’re one of the top teams in the state still (ranked seventh in 5A by MaxPreps in the final regular season rankings). Both Capri and Brooklyn played out of their minds. It’s going to be tough losing Capri, but we stuck right with them. We had a game plan, part of it we did and part of it we didn’t, and they took advantage of it.”
Post Falls 12 15 19 13 — 59
Lake City 21 15 19 11 — 66
POST FALLS — McLean 12, Berg 3, Walton 0, Brennan 16, Sims 28, Mitley 0, Miller 0.
LAKE CITY — Frazey 5, Pickford 20, Bowman 8, Zufelt 10, Waddington 10, McKellips 4, Holzer 0, Reynolds 9, Zimmerman 0.
