LEWISTON - Post Falls had defending state 5A girls basketball champion Lewiston on the ropes early in the fourth quarter, but couldn't deliver the knockout shot and the Trojans fell to the Bengals 58-48 in the Region 1 tournament second-place game Friday night at Booth Hall.

Lewiston (19-4) advances to face Vallivue (16-7) of Caldwell in the opening game of the state tournament Thursday at 12:15 p.m. PST at the Idaho Center in Nampa.

Post Falls finished 12-10.

"We got down in the first half and had way too many turnovers," first-year Post Falls coach Marc Allert said. "I thought they did a great job defensively."

Post Falls pulled to within 20-18 on a Brooke Litalien basket and free throw before the Bengals closed the half on a 7-1 run to take a 27-19 lead.

Lewiston jumped out 38-25 midway through the third quarter before the Trojans closed the period on an 8-0 run to pull within 38-33.

"We fought like crazy in the second half," Allert said. "Sometimes we got outplayed, other times we got outnumbered."

Post Falls' last state appearance was in 2008, when the team finished third.

"Nobody thought we'd be here," Allert said. "We were playing the defending champs with a chance to go to the state tournament. I told them to remember this and use it as motivation next season."

Dani Failor had 16 points and 12 rebounds for Post Falls, one week after scoring 26 points in the Trojans' 51-44 overtime win over Lewiston to open the tournament at Coeur d’Alene High last Friday.

“It was kind of like state in volleyball,” Failor said. “We were so close (second at state), but we just didn’t make it all the way. Nobody thought we’d be here. Next year, we’re coming back strong.”

Karlee Wilson scored a game-high 19 points for Lewiston.

“I thought defensively, it was our best effort,” Lewiston coach Pat Teichmer said. “I thought it was our best effort as a team this season. We were helping in the post and the officials were calling it tight.”

Lewiston made 28 of 33 free throws, compared to 12 of 18 by Post Falls.

“We talked about switching to zone,” Teichmer said. “But we were disastrous at it. We wanted to make every shot harder for her (Failor) tonight.”

Lewiston, ranked third in the final state media poll, played without post and Gonzaga signee Chelsea Waters, who has missed the Bengals’ last five games with an undisclosed illness and is uncertain for state, according to Teichmer.

“She’s still not feeling well,” Teichmer said. “We’d like to have her, but right now, we’re still not sure.”

Post Falls loses two seniors from this year’s team — Rai Franklin and Jessica Waller.

“I told the girls that after the second or third game of the season, if someone would have said we’d be playing for a shot to go to state, I don’t know if I’d believe them,” Allert said. “At the Christmas tournament (Coeur d’Alene Inn-vitational), we started to turn it around and we started to figure each other out.”

Litalien, a junior guard, added 10 points for Post Falls, despite playing with four fouls through most the second half.

“I’m determined to go a lot harder in practice next year,” Litalien said. “This group likes writing letters to each other on game days to help us come out focused. Next year, we’re just going to come out stronger.”

Post Falls 7 12 14 15 — 48

Lewiston 11 16 11 20 — 58

POST FALLS — J. Waller 0, Gonzales 0, King 5, Franklin 9, Smith 5, Litalien 10, Allert 0, Meehan 0, Runkle 1, Failor 16, Perrin 0, M. Waller 2.

LEWISTON — K. Wilson 19, L. Wilson 0, Schlader 3, Bernatz 3, Hansen 7, Hobart 6, Wells 7, Phillips 17.