STATE 5A GIRLS BASKETBALL: Seniors Colvin, Mitchell spark Vikings past Rocky Mountain in state 5A opener

By JASON ELLIOTT

Sports writer

NAMPA — At halftime, fifth-year Coeur d’Alene High coach Nicole Symons said her team “looked like they’d lost the game.”

Coeur d’Alene led 18-16 after the first two quarters.

So, leave it to senior Maddie Mitchell to liven up the Viking party.

Mitchell hit four 3-pointers in the third quarter for the fourth-seeded Vikings, who stretched a 21-20 lead to double figures, then held off a late rally to beat the fifth-seeded Rocky Mountain Grizzlies of Meridian 50-40 in the opening round of the state 5A girls basketball tournament on Thursday at the Ford Idaho Center.

“I told them at halftime that this is how that first game goes,” said Symons, whose team was 3 of 18 from the 3-point line in the first half. “There’s so many nerves, so to be able to shoot well in the first half, it’s so hard. It’s a big stage and it’s goofy. I just told them to take a deep breath. Just be confident — it will go in — and they did a good job of forcing us to shoot 3s, and fortunately some of them started to fall.”

Coeur d’Alene (18-5), the defending champion, will face top-seeded Boise (23-1) in the semifinals today at 4 PST. Boise defeated Madison of Rexburg 40-31.

Rocky Mountain (17-7) faces Madison (18-9) in a loser-out game tonight at 5 at Timberline High in Boise.

Mitchell scored all 12 of her points in the third quarter for Coeur d’Alene. UNLV-bound senior Teagan Colvin had 22 points, six rebounds and five assists for the Vikings.

“My teammates really just kept giving me confidence to keep shooting,” Mitchell said. “I was having a tough time getting anything to fall in the first half. But my teammates kept me in it. It’s hard to play when you first get here, but you’ve got to settle in.”

Following her fourth 3 of the quarter, Mitchell jumped for joy as if she’d hit a buzzer beater.

“I was happy, and it just came out,” Mitchell said. “It happens. In the second half, we just started having more fun.”

“Mitch, we’ve got to get her going in these games,” Colvin said. “We’re all keeping her excited and ready to go. To see that first one go through was really exciting to see.”

“She struggled in the first half and was pretty down in the locker room,” Symons said. “But we told her, ‘you’ve got to keep shooting,’ and she’s a great shooter. She’s so light-hearted and fun and just to see her see the ball go through the rim and cheer for herself, it cracks me up. She’s really come into her own and became a real big contributor for us offensively and defensively. She’s a great kid and happy for her.”

Freshman Brookeslee Colvin scored 11 points, eight in the second half for Coeur d’Alene, which finished 10 of 28 from the 3-point line.

“They’ve got a bunch of great shooters,” fifth-year Rocky Mountain coach BJ Humphreys said. “The game plan was to get out on their shooters, and we missed that three times in a row. And she (Mitchell) hit them. And it really cost us the game. We had a two-minute lapse, and it really cost us the game.”

Colvin scored 12 of the Vikings’ 18 first-half points, with Brookeslee Colvin and Kendall Holecek each hitting a 3-pointer.

“It’s been the story of our entire season,” Colvin said. “We fought tonight and held solid in each of their runs. As long as we stay composed, we should be fine in each of our games.”

“Teagan just does what she always does,” Symons said of the senior Colvin, who played all 32 minutes. “She’s just a floor general and gets the ball where it needs to go. She does a good job of seeing things and making adjustments and did a good job of getting to the rim during the second half.”

“Teagan’s a great game manager down the stretch,” Humphreys said. “She can control the ball and make good decisions. It’s hard down the stretch to turn her over because she’s a great player.”

Cianna Legaspi, who has signed with Cal Baptist of the Western Athletic Conference, had 19 points and seven rebounds for Rocky Mountain.

Coeur d’Alene was 10 of 19 shooting in the second half. 

“I told them once you see the ball go through the net, it just shifts things,” Symons said. “It’s just your perspective on everything. We kept battling and knew that Rocky was going to make a run, and we weathered it tonight.”

After six lead changes in the first half, Coeur d’Alene didn’t give it back in the second half.

“The pace was too slow for us in the first half,” Symons said. “It was just not our style. We started to get out in transition and that helped us. I just told them to calm down and be confident.”

Rocky Mountain    10    6    13    11    —    40

Coeur d’Alene        9    9    22    10    —    50

ROCKY MOUNTAIN — L. Sailors 7, Summers 0, Ad. Osterhout 2, Av. Osterhout 10, T. Giberson 0, M. Giberson 0, DaBell 2, Legaspi 19. Totals 13-40 11-12 40.

COEUR d’ALENE — T. Colvin 22, Mitchell 12, Wallis 0, B. Colvin 11, Lopez 0, K. Holecek 3, Carroll 2. Totals 16-42 8-12 50.

    JASON ELLIOTT/Press Coeur d'Alene senior guard Teagan Colvin drives around Rocky Mountain junior forward Makenna Giberson during the third quarter of Thursday's state 5A girls basketball opening round game at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa.