NAMPA - After battling to a 14-10 lead after the first quarter of a state 5A girls basketball tournament game, the Coeur d'Alene Vikings got defensive on the Meridian Warriors.

Real defensive.

Coeur d’Alene held the Warriors to 17 points in the final three quarters, forcing 24 turnovers on the way to a 68-27 victory Thursday at the Idaho Center.

Coeur d’Alene (19-2) will face Centennial (19-5) in the second semifinal game tonight at 7 p.m. PST. It will be the Vikings’ seventh straight trip to the semifinals.

“Our kids work hard,” Coeur d’Alene coach Dale Poffenroth said. “They work their rear ends off. I’ve told them for years, if you continue to work hard — you’ll succeed.”

Meridian led 6-3 on a jumper by Hallie Taufoou before the Vikings got within a point on a jumper by Erin Legel. Another basket by Legel gave the Vikings an 8-7 lead they never gave back.

“We were a lot more balanced and organized,” Poffenroth said. “Madison (Sumner) could do some things on defense and we started to play better defense.”

Back-to-back 3-pointers from Caelyn Orlandi and Kyeli Parker gave Coeur d’Alene a 14-10 lead after the first quarter.

That was as close as the Warriors could get as the Vikings used a 41-9 run over the second and third quarters to put the game away.

“We’re more balanced than in previous years,” said Poffenroth, who was able to rest his starters midway through the third quarter. “They’ve really bought into our defense. The kids would rather hold their opponent to four points than score at all.”

Parker, a senior guard, finished with a game-high 11 points, nine coming in the first half for Coeur d’Alene.

“I was kind of feeling it,” Parker said. “This is my senior year, and I want to go out with a bang. I’m going to leave it all out on the court when I play this weekend.”

Senior guard Erin Legel scored six of her eight points in the first quarter to get the Vikings going offensively.

“In the beginning, I knew I could take whoever was guarding me off the dribble,” Legel said. “This win was big and gives us some momentum going for the next two games. We’re ready for this.”

Coeur d’Alene held Meridian to 8-of-39 shooting from the field, with Holly Blades leading the Warriors with six points.

“We didn’t know anything about them coming into the game,” Parker said. “It’s good to have momentum going forward in the next two days.”

Coeur d’Alene scored 22 points off turnovers, compared to zero for Meridian.

“They just got hot in the second quarter,” Meridian coach Amos Lee said. “Their shooting percentage was high and they had a good game plan. They ran through their offensive sets and didn’t get rattled.”

Of the 24 turnovers, Lee attributed them to nerves.

“They play great defense,” Lee said. “But I think our girls got a little scared and our nerves got the best of us.”

Meridian 10 5 4 8 — 27

Coeur d’Alene 14 14 27 13 — 68

MERIDIAN — S. Woods 0, Romero 0, Taufoou 3, Lutu 5, Hawley 0, Winter 2, Rice 0, Blades 6, Norman 4, Richards 5, Westmoreland 0, Jacuinde 0, Martinez 2, H. Woods 0. Totals 8-39 11-17 27.

COEUR d’ALENE — S. Parker 0, Sumner 7, Chalich 3, Orlandi 8, K. Parker 11, Tackett 9, Legel 8, Higbie 4, Brainard 5, Wellsandt 3, Williams 10. Totals 26-57 10-17 68.