PREP ROUNDUP: Timberlake girls advance to state

• GIRLS

COTTONWOOD — Call it nerves, or just an off start, but it took about eight minutes for Timberlake to look like itself on Saturday. 

But that second quarter, that sure seemed familiar. 

Timberlake, which shut out Bonners Ferry in the second half of Monday’s 4A District 1 Tournament game, shut out Weiser 15-0 in the second quarter on Saturday, pulling away for a 53-33 win over the Wolverines in a state play-in game at Prairie High. 

“We did a better job on the defensive side of the ball in the second quarter,” Timberlake coach Matt Miller said. “We got some really good looks in the first quarter, but had a hard time making them. I don’t know if was nerves, but we just missed some early ones early.” 

Timberlake (19-3), which finished third at state last year, opens this year’s tournament at Middleton High on Thursday. 

Brackets and pairings for all six state tournaments are expected to be announced today. 

Junior Malia Miller had 14 points, eight assists and five rebounds, senior Diana Nelson 10 points, eight rebounds and five blocked shots, senior Jozee MacArthur six rebounds and five assists and Lucy Simpson 12 points and 10 rebounds for Timberlake 

Hailey Eames scored 14 points for Weiser (16-6). 

Weiser        10    0    10    13    —    33 

Timberlake    12    15    17    9    —    53 

WEISER — Lerew 2, Strasser 0, Dolton 4, Stromberg 0, Eames 12, Sorenson 0, Shirts 9, Shi 3, Hoobery 1, Golf 0. 

TIMBERLAKE — Soumas 7, Nelson 10, MacArthur 2, Simpson 12, Needs 5, Miller 14, Jones 3. 

Capital 53  

Post Falls 43  

GRANGEVILLE — The Trojans started strong, but struggled to score in the second half and fell to the Eagles in a state 6A play-in game at Grangeville High.  

Post Falls (8-17), the District 1 runners-up, jumped out to an early six-point lead, before falling behind 29-24 at halftime against Capital, which finished eighth in the 12-team 6A Southern Idaho Conference.  

Capital (13-13), which hit eight 3-pointers, led by as much as 18 points in the second half. 

“We were playing hard defensively and ran out of gas a little bit,” Post Falls coach Mike Divilbiss said. “We played hard defensively, but have to improve offensively if we’re going to go further. And we will. The girls have improved a ton over the season. We’ve just got to find the right thing to fit these guys.” 

Junior Kailey Walton scored a game-high 18 points for Post Falls, which started the season 2-8. 

“We’ve got a good sense of how far we’ve come and grown as a team,” Divilbiss said. “It’s been a great culture all year, even when it was challenging. The kids stayed the course and it really paid off for them. Capital is playing as good as anybody in the Boise area and we couldn’t have played at that level earlier this year. We’ve come a long way.” 

Junior McKenna Chavez scored 16 points for Capital, which opens at state on Thursday at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa. 

Capital        10    19    14    10    —    53 

Post Falls    11    13    8    11    —    43 

CAPITAL — French 4, E. Francis 3, J. Stafford 4, M. Stafford 11, Jolly 3, Cutler 9, Coatswald 4, Chavez 16. 

POST FALLS — Hollenbeck 3, Felix 2, McGowan 3, Tucker 3, Nipp-Berger 3, Mitley 12, Walton 18, Wilcox 1. 

New Plymouth 50 

Priest River 31 

GRANGEVILLE — The Spartans, bidding for their first state tournament appearance since 2017, fell to the Pilgrims in a state 3A play-in game at Grangeville High. 

Senior Desi Humphrey scored a game-high 15 points for Priest River, which finished 15-8. Senior Lizzie McCracken scored seven points and senior Paityn Yount had eight rebounds and three blocked shots for the Spartans.

Junior Emery Frates had 12 points and eight rebounds for New Plymouth (18-7), which advances to state starting Thursday at Bishop Kelly High in Boise. 

New Plymouth    18    5    13    14    —    50 

Priest River    4    11    5    11    —    31 

NEW PLYMOUTH — Frates 12, S. Withers 11, K. Withers 10, Hailey 8, Eagy 4, Oxnam 3, Christenson 2. 

PRIEST RIVER — Humphrey 15, McCracken 7, Jensen 5, Yount 3, Burgess-Duquette 1. 

Nezperce 55 

Kootenai 17 

POST FALLS — The Warriors — who didn’t field a team last season, then won the first district title since 2014 this year — fell to the Nighthawks in a state 1A play-in game at Post Falls High. 

Kootenai’s roster is made up of six freshmen and two eighth-graders. 

“I’m really proud of them for how we got this year with how young they are,” second-year Kootenai coach Alyssa Liermann said. “Years ahead, and I plan to coach for at least the next three years because I don’t want someone else to get all the glory for all the hard work we did. Not only physically, but we did a lot of mental work. The next couple of years, I assume will be really good for us.” 

Freshman Sadie Rose Davidson had five points and nine rebounds for Kootenai, which finished 5-12. 

“We’re usually a second-half team, but it comes with them being so young,” Liermann said. “I’ve got to remind them that every team we play usually has juniors and seniors. Varsity experience is huge, and we don’t have any of it, especially my two eighth-graders. It takes a little longer for things to click and figure it out than any other team.” 

Helen Wilcox scored 12 points for Nezperce (11-10), which advances to the state tournament starting Thursday at Nampa High. 

Nezperce    11    23    6    15    —    55 

Kootenai    0    2    10    5    —    17 

NEZPERCE — Av. Lux 8, Mosman 0, Ralstin 8, Au. Lux 4, E. Duuck 0, Wilcox 12, A. Duuck 5, Kirkland 4, Jensen 6, Johnson 0, Horton 1, Grant 7. 

KOOTENAI — Parrish 4, Loucks 2, H. Charles 1, Lowery 0, S. Davidson 5, B. Charles 4, D. Davidson 1, Mazza 0.     

• BOYS

Priest River 51 

Kellogg 48 

PRIEST RIVER — Senior Brock Kreager scored nine points and hit two 3-pointers, one with 37.2 seconds remaining, to push the lead to 50-46 for the Spartans in a Central Idaho League win over the Wildcats at Priest River High. 

Senior Nate Stifel had 18 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots for Priest River (13-4, 6-1 CIL), which hosts St. Maries on Tuesday in a battle for the league championship. Priest River beat host St. Maries 54-44 on Jan. 21 in their first matchup this season. 

Junior Draeden Taylor scored 16 points for Kellogg (10-8, 4-4), which will be the third seed to the 3A District 1-2 tournament. The Wildcats host Coeur du Christ on Wednesday to wrap up the regular season. 

Kellogg        14    12    12    10    —    48 

Priest River    15    15    12    9    —    51 

KELLOGG — Taylor 16, Lewis 12, Cheney 10, McDonald 6, Honnerlaw 2, Vindasius 2. 

PRIEST RIVER — Stifel 18, Cook 10, Kreager 9, Coleman 7, Korff 4, Mathews 3. 

Coeur d'Alene at Big Sky (Mont.), ccd.

MISSOULA, Mont. — The visiting Vikings' regular-season finale was canceled.

Coeur d'Alene (11-9), the No. 3 seed to the 6A District 1 tournament, will play at No. 2 Post Falls (14-7) in a loser-out first-round game Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

The winner advances to play No. 1 seed Lake City (17-4) in a best-of-3 series for the district title. Due to a schedule change, Game 1 is now Saturday at 1 p.m. at Lake City. Game 2 is Feb. 25 at the home of the No. 2 seed. Game 3, if necessary, would be Feb. 27 at Lake City.

The winner advances to state; the loser goes to a state play-in March 1 at Grangeville.

• GIRLS WRESTLING

Sandpoint's Johnson wins 

at Lake City Invitational

COEUR d'ALENE — Sandpoint's Zxyloh Johnson (152) won her bracket with a 15-7 win by major decision to lead the Bulldogs at the Lake City Girls Invitational.

Nya Eby (120) won two bouts by pin, Vanessa Hood (126) one by a 18-3 technical fall and the other by a 9-0 decision, and two both placed second. Ariana Turnbull (185) and Lilli Marti (235) also finished second in their respective round robin's.

Other area champions were Lake City's Alexxis Johnson (120), Vada Hutchinson (114) and Kahli Brown (132), Raylee Reynolds (138), Chloe Thomas (145) and Kassie Voss (235) of Post Falls, Timberlake's Shelby Garten (126) and Coeur d'Alene's Brooklyn Anderson (185).

Hunter Edmondson (120) and Izzy Stark (126) wrestled to three wins, Summer Birch (114) two wins, and the trio all notched third-place finishes on the day.

Sandpoint will travel to Moscow on Thursday for the all-class District 1-2 tournament — a tournament the Bulldogs are hoping to win for the first time in school history.

CHAMPIONSHIP MATCHES

107 (round robin) — 1, Murphee Balich, Coeur d'Alene; 2, Jaiden DeTienne, Coeur d'Alene; 3, Teagan Patrick, Lakeland; 4, Mackenzee Donenfeld, Sandpoint. 114 — Vada Hutchinson, Post Falls, p. Kooper Bugner, Lewiston, 1:42. 120 — Alexxis Johnson, Lake City, tf. Nya Eby, Sandpoint, 15-0. 126 — Shelby Garten, Timberlake, p. Vanessa Hood, Sandpoint, 0:26. 132 — Kahli Brown, Post Falls, p. Rose Gates, Timberlake, 3:45. 138 (round robin) — 1, Raylee Reynolds, Post Falls; 2, Jesse Rice, Clearwater Valley. 145 — Chloe Thomas, Post Falls, p. Ciel Sattler, Lapwai, 5:00. 152 — Zxyloh Johnson, Sandpoint, md. Sophia Stewart, Post Falls, 15-7. 185 (round robin) — 1, Brooklyn Anderson, Coeur d'Alene; 2, Ariana Turnbull, Sandpoint; 3, Haven McClure, Lake City. 235 (round robin) — 1, Kassie Voss, Post Falls; 2, Lilli Marti, Sandpoint; 3, Devlyn Hernandez, Post Falls; 4, Hailey Cook, Priest River.

THIRD-PLACE MATCHES

114 — Summer Birch, Sandpoint, md. Rhaelyn Schedlbauer, Sandpoint, 11-0. 120 — Hunter Edmondson, Sandpoint, p. Zoey Hollenbeck, Coeur d'Alene, 2:06. 126 — Izzy Stark, Sandpoint, p. Avery Whaley, Coeur d'Alene, 2:17. 132 — Kalayah White, Kellogg, p. Avery Inge, Sandpoint, 1:27. 145 — Justyce Dorn, Lake City, p. Brooke Hayes, Kellogg, 0:34. 152 — Kaysha Kimura, Sandpoint, ff. Anna Agazzi, Clearwater Valley.

    JASON ELLIOTT/Press Kootenai freshman Annabelle Parrish drives to the basket in the fourth quarter of Saturday's state 1A play-in game at Post Falls High.