FIGHT FOR THE FISH: Fast starts fuel rivalry showdown .... Lake City boys, Coeur d'Alene girls jump out to big leads, win in spirit games at Coeur d'Alene High
By JASON ELLIOTT
Sports writer
COEUR d’ALENE — There might be something in fast starts.
Sometimes, it makes you play like a superhero.
Other times, like you’re watching a car race with all gas and no brakes.
In the boys Fight for the Fish spirit game at Coeur d'Alene High, Lake City senior Reese Strawn scored 14 of his 22 points in the first quarter for the Timberwolves, who led 24-6 after one en route to a 71-53 win over the Coeur d’Alene Vikings at Viking Court on Friday.
“We owed them one,” Strawn said. “This game has been circled on the calendar all year. We’ve been working hard. They’re a good team and if you let them get energy, it’s going to be a bad night for you. We had to jump on them right away, or it was going to be a tough night.”
Lake City (12-3, 3-0 Inland Empire League) lost all three games to Coeur d’Alene (6-6, 1-2) last year, including the opener at state.
“It’s great, but we haven’t done anything yet,” Strawn said. “Hopefully we’ve got some more in the future tonight.”
In the girls game, sophomore Brookeslee Colvin scored 17 of her 34 points in the first half for the Vikings (9-7, 4-0 IEL), who jumped out to an 18-3 lead midway through the first quarter on the way to a 75-39 win over the Timberwolves (7-8, 2-1).
“I think it was something that we really wanted to key in on,” Colvin said. “We hit those first couple of shots and really got going. We were playing great defense, with everyone contributing and it went throughout the game.”
Colvin had 27 points in Tuesday’s win over Post Falls at home.
“With more experience, everyone is getting more comfortable,” Colvin said. “Everyone is playing different roles this year and we’re doing it really well. And it’s working out.”
After the boys game, Lake City High was announced as the winner of the Fish, capturing the spirit competition for the third straight year, and 12th time in the last 13 Fish games.
BOYS: Lake City hit 10 3-pointers in the first half to take a 39-19 lead at halftime.
“Reese is having such a good year, and I can’t put my finger on what it is,” second-year Lake City boys coach James Anderson said. “We had our best three practices of the season after the Moscow game and it felt like things were coming together, but you just never know. Coeur d’Alene shoots the ball really well and didn’t make any. We were fortunate to be the hot ones tonight.”
“We weren’t priortizing rotating on defense,” Coeur d’Alene coach Jon Adams said. “Right now, we’re a little too focused on the offensive end and not the defensive end, and we need to find guys to do that. We didn’t do a good job of following our game plan, and Lake City got confident with what they were doing and executed better than us. It’s disappointing, but we’re still trying to get guys to buy in. Until we get that, we’re going to struggle.”
Junior Josh Watson had 15 points, senior Cason Miller 10 and sophomore Jordan Carlson 12 for Lake City.
“Every coach's dream is to have a bunch of different guys hit shots, but that rarely happens,” Anderson said. “We were super lucky it happened tonight, especially in this environment with only three minutes of warmups. It was really special.”
It was the first game between the schools since the opening round of the state 5A tournament last year, won by the Vikings 60-49 at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa.
“We’ve had this game circled for a while,” Strawn said. “We always believe in each other and when the ball gets energy like that, it’s tough to stop.”
Junior Caden Symons scored 15 points for Coeur d’Alene, which hosts Riverside next Friday.
Lake City visits Post Falls on Tuesday.
Lake City 24 15 19 13 — 71
Coeur d’Alene 6 13 18 16 — 53
LAKE CITY — Parker 8, Winey 2, Strawn 22, Miller 10, Everson 0, Watson 15, Kloos 0, Bowman 0, Anderson 0, Meredith 2, Pearson 0, Carlson 12.
COEUR d’ALENE — McCall 0, Murray 3, Rupp 3, Montague 3, Booth 5, Sutich 0, Riley 5, Wheeler 11, Symons 15, Johnston 0, Robertson 8.
GIRLS: Coeur d’Alene led 10-2 early in the first quarter on 3-pointers from freshman Lexi Wheeler and junior Natalie Semprimoznik.
“The players were ready to go,” first-year Coeur d’Alene coach Stacy Boyd said. “They were finally locked in. All season, we haven’t had a good start in any of our games and before the game, the girls said they were going to have a good start tonight. They get excited for this Fish game, and hats off to them. They played well and defended.”
Coeur d’Alene led 38-19 at halftime.
“It definitely helped having that crowd behind us and feeding off that energy,” Colvin said. “We did our job on the defensive end, so we took care of it.”
Senior Sadie Zimmerman scored 14 points for Lake City.
“They came out hitting some shots and we were a bit timid,” second-year Lake City coach David Pratt said. “I think it kind of shows our youth, and they’ve got youth too, but they’re a little more experienced that us. They were a little more prepared than we were, but the atmosphere wasn’t anything different.”
It was the first game between the schools since the 2024 state 5A championship game, won by the Vikings 58-49 for the program’s second straight title.
“Everyone stepped up tonight,” Boyd said. “Especially Brookslee, and that right there was a game changer. When she’s locked in at a moment like that, she’s locked in and on cruise control.”
Sophomore Macy Murphey scored 13 points for Lake City.
“I was proud of our effort in the second half,” Pratt said. “We were reeling a little bit in the first half trying to figure the game out and what we’re supposed to do. The second half, we played much better and played much calmer and got the ball in the seems much better.”
“I was proud of them,” Boyd said. “They got out to a good start and never turned back. I was proud of them.”
On Tuesday, Coeur d’Alene travels to Sandpoint and Lake City visits Post Falls.
Lake City 6 13 11 9 — 39
Coeur d’Alene 21 17 24 13 — 75
LAKE CITY — Murphey 13, M. Zimmerman 0, Kolden 5, Hiltenbrand 2, M. Zimmerman 0, Baltzell 3, Fagan 2, Brouse 0, S. Zimmerman 14, Chavez 0, Johnson 0.
COEUR d’ALENE — Bridge 0, Wheeler 5, Semprimoznik 11, Wallis 6, Colvin 34, Holecek 5, Shafer 5, Bowmer 0, Carroll 9, Reardon 0.