FIGHT FOR THE FISH: Lake City girls down Coeur d'Alene; Coeur d'Alene boys topple Lake City

By MARK NELKE

Sports editor

COEUR d’ALENE — Avery Waddington backed down in the paint, and that was exactly what Lake City needed her to do Friday night.

Kai Wheeler didn’t back down in the paint, and that was precisely what Coeur d’Alene asked of him. 

Waddington, a senior, and Wheeler, a junior, led their respective teams to victory in the annual Fight for the Fish spirit basketball games before the usual capacity crowd at Lake City High.

Waddington totaled 23 points, five rebounds and six assists as the Lake City Timberwolf girls, ranked second in 5A in this week’s state media poll, defeated the Coeur d’Alene Vikings 54-45.

“I definitely have grown in my posting up,” said the 6-foot-3 Waddington, who has signed with Montana. “I didn’t do this at all last year. I used to shoot it a lot, and then I started driving, and then started posting … just growing my game.”

In the second game Wheeler collected 19 rebounds to go with his eight points as Coeur d’Alene’s boys downed Lake City 64-49.

“I made a promise to coach that we’d win, and I never break promises,” the 6-3 Wheeler said. “Going in, I was matched up with Josh Watson, and coach told me he was a good offensive rebounder, and my goal was to hold him to zero offensive rebounds. I gave as much effort as I could to be that rebounder that game.”

After the boys game, Lake City High was announced as the winner of the Fish, capturing the spirit competition for the second straight year, and 11th time in the last 12 Fish games.

Coeur d’Alene’s boys and girls meet again Jan. 22 at Coeur d’Alene.

GIRLS

Lake City 54, Coeur d’Alene 45: Waddington was 11 of 15 from the floor for Lake City (16-1, 5-0 Inland Empire League), which won its 11th straight game.

“Avery played really, really well for us,” first-year Lake City coach David Pratt said. “We knew she could get inside. She passed the ball well today, and she obviously shot the ball well today. When you get those zero-footers and you put them in, it’s really nice.”

Senior Kamryn Pickford added 11 points and six rebounds for Lake City.

Senior Sophia Zufelt hit a runner off the glass early in the third quarter to give her 1,000 points in her T-Wolf career. She finished with nine points, giving her a total of 1,002, and she also five rebounds and a couple of steals.

In the second quarter, Lake City held Coeur d’Alene without a basket for 5 minutes, and took a 23-16 lead at halftime. The T-Wolves took their biggest lead at 42-27 on a basket inside by Waddington with 5 minutes left.

Coeur d’Alene (11-4, 2-2) was at full strength in numbers only.

Senior point guard Teagan Colvin, who has signed with UNLV, played for the first time since suffering a broken right hand at the Tarkanian Classic in Las Vegas in December. She played with a wrap on her wrist and hand, and finished with 10 points, seven rebounds and two steals.

Her freshman sister, Brookeslee, played Friday after missing time twice during the season with an ankle injury.

“It’s just been a really different season for me that I’ve ever coached,” Coeur d’Alene coach Nicole Symons said. “We haven’t had a full roster since our third game, between sicknesses and injuries. Teagan and Brookeslee have been out, and hadn’t practiced, kind of rolled them out. We shifted things in the dynamic a little bit, so we weren’t comfortable in the beginning, trying to figure things out.”

Symons said Teagan was a gametime decision, made after she went through warmups. There was talk she might be out up to a month.

“I had a feeling,” Waddington said. “It did not surprise me.”

“We weren’t expecting her to play,” Pratt said. “So we made a quick little change (putting Zufelt on Teagan), and we tried to put a lot of pressure on their shooters. The plan was to keep them out of the paint, and challenge their shooters.”

Coeur d’Alene was 5 of 19 from the free-throw line, 2 of 11 in the first half.

“I was proud of them; they didn’t give up, they fought,” Symons said. “I think our free throws just killed us tonight. Avery Waddington’s a tough matchup for us. They shoot the 3 so well … they’re a good team. They’re tough, they played well tonight. But not disappointed in our girls.”

Earlier this week, Waddington and Teagan Colvin were among nearly 400 girls nationwide nominated for the McDonald’s All-American Games, scheduled for April 2 in Houston. The 24 boys and 24 girls selected for the game will be revealed Jan. 23.

On Tuesday, Coeur d’Alene plays host to Lewiston, and Lake City visits Post Falls.

Coeur d’Alene     11    5    8    21    —    45

Lake City    11    12    13    18    —    54

COEUR d’ALENE — T. Colvin 10, Mitchell 9, Wallis 4, B. Colvin 3, Lopez 2, K. Holecek 9, Carroll 8.

LAKE CITY — Murphey 0, Frazey 6, Pickford 11, Kolden 0, Zufelt 9, Waddington 23, Zimmerman 5.

BOYS

Coeur d’Alene 64, Lake City 49: Wheeler’s effort was an example of the entire performance by Coeur d’Alene (11-3, 2-0 IEL), ranked tied for third in 5A in this week’s initial statewide media poll.

Sophomore Caden Symons had a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Senior Gunner Larson came off the bench and scored 13 of his 16 points in the second half. Senior Logan Orchard added 15 points.

“What Kai did is indicative of what we did tonight,” Coeur d’Alene coach Jon Adams said. “We can shoot, we can execute. I told the kids, this is an effort game, and who is going to lead us with that effort. Kai does it on the boards. Gunner Larson comes in and gives us a massive spark off the bench — just lockdown defense. 

“All these pieces that we need to put in place in order for us to be successful, you have to check off as many as you can, and tonight we checked off the energy, and sticking together.”

Coeur d’Alene opened up an 11-point lead in the second quarter, only to see Lake City (8-5, 0-1) close to within four.

Lake City pulled within 32-31 on a 3-pointer by Jordan Carlson midway through the third quarter. But Coeur d’Alene answered with a 10-2 run, with Larson scoring six of those points and the Vikings held a comfortable lead the rest of the way.

Reese Strawn scored 16 points for Lake City, which was 8 of 25 from deep, and nothing came easy offensively for the T-Wolves.

“Physicality,” Lake City coach James Anderson said. “Coeur d’Alene got a lot of second-chance points. They’re very athletic, very physical, and they probably won that battle on us. That was probably the biggest impact on the game.”

“That was our strategy — get out on their shooters and force them to put the ball on the ground,” Adams said. “And collapse when they penetrate.”

“In the first half we tried to get the ball more into the paint,” Anderson said. “Then they collapsed, and we didn’t adjust as well.”

On Tuesday, Coeur d’Alene plays host to Lewiston, and Lake City visits Post Falls.

Coeur d’Alene     13    14    19    18    —    64

Lake City    9    12    17    11    —    49

COEUR d’ALENE — Larson 16, Orchard 15, Rupp 7, Nipp 0, Sutich 0, Riley 0, Wheeler 8, Sylte 0, Booth 0, Symons 14, Entzi 4.

LAKE CITY — Parker 9, Winey 0, Strawn 16, Miller 3, Watson 2, Kloos 2, Arrieta 8, Hill 0, Williams 2, Meredith 0, Carlson 7, Bowman 0.

    JASON DUCHOW PHOTOGRAPHY Senior Logan Orchard of Coeur d'Alene hits a floater in the lane as junior Carter Kloos of Lake City defends in the Fight for the Fish game at Lake City High.
  

    JASON DUCHOW PHOTOGRAPHY Senior Kamryn Pickford (2) of Lake City grabs a rebound as senior Madison Mitchell (2) of Coeur d'Alene challenges in the Fight for the Fish game Friday night at Lake City High.