PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL: Coeur d'Alene wraps up IEL title, top seed to regionals

COEUR d’ALENE — The Lake City Timberwolves were a few minutes away from avenging an earlier loss to the Coeur d’Alene Vikings, with the start of the 5A Region 1 tournament just six days away.

But the Vikings had other ideas.

Coeur d’Alene wicked up the pressure, Madi Symons took over inside, and the Vikings scored the game’s last 12 points to upend the Timberwolves 45-40 on Saturday night at Lake City.

Coeur d’Alene (18-2, 8-0 Inland Empire League), ranked second in 5A, clinched the league title and wrapped up the No. 1 seed to regionals.

“I kept telling the girls, just one more stop,” Coeur d’Alene coach Nicole Symons said. “We got four stops in a row to finish the game, and we struggled to get a stop in the third quarter. There’s going to be adversity in these games; it’s whether they can weather it mentally.”

Fourth-ranked Lake City (16-4, 6-2) led 40-33 with three minutes to play.

The Wyoming-bound Symons responded with two quick baskets, then a steal by Madison Mitchell led to a basket by Kendall Omlin.

After a T-Wolf turnover, Symons spun in the lane for a short left-handed shot to put Coeur d’Alene ahead 41-40 with 1:04 left.

Lake City missed shots on its next two possessions, and had to foul after the second miss. Libby Awbery hit both ends of a one-and-one for the Vikings with 27.4 seconds left. Then, after another Lake City turnover, Teagan Colvin hit both ends of a one-and-one with 18.7 seconds left to ice it.

Colvin hit three 3-pointers and led Coeur d’Alene with 15 points. Symons scored eight of her 12 points in the fourth quarter.

“Man, seven (points) down … they did it,” Nicole Symons said. “They got together as a group and said, we’ve got to dig in, we’re better than this … Libby hits two free throws when we need them, Symons demands the ball, gets a couple of buckets. Kendall Omlin just solid defense, and Teagan hits buckets when we’re struggling, and need them.”

Sophia Zufelt hit three 3s and led all scorers with 19 points for Lake City, which needed to beat Coeur d’Alene by at least 14 points to wrestle the top seed away. But a win by any margin would have been nice for the T-Wolves.

“Yeah, obviously we wanted to finish that game off,” Lake City coach James Anderson said. “But life goes on; we have to make a few changes and adjustments, and move forward … they helped us figure out, if you want to be successful at state, you have to be able to close out games. The game got more physical (late), and we didn’t adjust as well as we should. Obviously we had a few turnovers, which wasn’t great, but the bigger issue was they got to the front of the rim three times in a row.”

The regular season for both wraps up Tuesday night, with Coeur d’Alene home vs. Lewiston, and Lake City at Post Falls.

Barring surprises on Tuesday, Friday’s first-round regional matchups will pit Lewiston at Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls at Lake City.

Coeur d’Alene 8 9 10 18 — 45

Lake City 9 9 14 8 — 40

COEUR d’ALENE — Colvin 15, Mitchell 5, Awbery 2, Omlin 8, Symons 12, Holecek 3, Carroll 0.

LAKE CITY — Frazey 2, Pickford 2, Bowman 0, Zufelt 19, Waddington 4, McKellips 2, Holzer 0, Reynolds 11.

Grangeville 58

St. Maries 21

GRANGEVILLE — Caryss Barger and Abbie Frei scored 13 points each for the Bulldogs in a Central Idaho League win over the Lumberjacks.

Taci Watkins scored six points for St. Maries (8-9, 1-4 CIL), which travels to Kellogg on Tuesday.

Grangeville (12-8, 5-0) hosts Orofino on Tuesday.

St. Maries 4 19 3 4 — 21

Grangeville 24 19 10 5 — 58

ST. MARIES — Sexton 2, Spray 0, Watkins 6, Mitchell 0, Sindt 3, Janssen 3, Baird 1, Sloper 4, Asbury 0, Linnemeyer 3, Lockridge 2.

GRANGEVILLE — Barger 13, Anderson 3, Frei 13, Green 9, Long 0, Thacker 6, Vanderwall 10, Adams 0, Bashaw 0, York 0, E. Told 4, H. Told 0, Wilkinson 0.

Orofino 47

Lakeside 39

OROFINO — Freshman Kyleigh Wolfe scored 10 points for the 1A Division I Knights in a loss to the 2A Maniacs.

Senior Arianna Havier-Gorr scored eight points for Lakeside (11-5), which travels to Wallace in a Central Idaho League showdown on Tuesday.

Jaelyn Miller scored 18 points and Grace Beardin had 14 points, six rebounds and three assists for Orofino 6-9.

Lakeside 9 11 9 10 — 39

Orofino 8 13 7 19 — 47

LAKESIDE — Pluff 2, Wolfe 10, Rivera 5, Wienclaw 2, K. Allen 0, Matt 6, Lowley 4, Havier-Gorr 8, A. Allen 0, Lambert 2.

OROFINO — McCarthy 0, R. Province 0, Deyo 0, Beardin 14, E. Province 2, Hanna 0, Johnson 13, Curtis 0, Miller 18.

Lakeside 43

Genesis Prep 11

POST FALLS — Freshman Kimberly Pluff scored 16 points as the visiting Knights (11-4, 3-0 Scenic Idaho Conference) beat the Jaguars (7-11, 0-4) at The Courts at Real Life late Thursday.

Lakeside 11 23 8 1 — 43

Genesis Prep 5 0 2 5 — 12

LAKESIDE — Gorr 0, Pluff 16, Wolfe 6, Rivera 5, Wienclaw 2, Thomas 0, K. Allen 2, Matt 4, Lowley 2, Havier-Gorr 6, Hodgson 0, Lambert 0.

GENESIS PREP — S. Martin 0, Nelke 3, Covey 2, E. Martin 3, Williams 2, Cooper 0, Yount 0, Lawler 2, Anderson 0.