COEUR d'ALENE - The top-ranked Coeur d'Alene Vikings didn't have one of their top scorers Friday night, and struggled a bit on offense, but made up for it with a sticky defensive effort.

The Vikings held Lake City to 23.5-percent shooting (8 of 34) from the field, and forced the Timberwolves into 20 turnovers in a 36-24 victory in 5A Inland Empire League play at Lake City.

"Our defense was stellar; the kids played outstanding defense tonight," Coeur d'Alene coach Dale Poffenroth said. "When you lose one starter, your continuity goes out on offense, so we knew we were going to be a little bit out of sync. And we hadn't played in two weeks, so you're not going to be as sharp as you were.

But if you bust your fanny on defense and work and work and work, you’ll be fine.”

Coeur d’Alene (16-2, 5-1 5A IEL) clinched at least a tie for the league title with the victory. Lewiston (15-3, 4-1) can join the Vikings atop the league with a win over visiting Lake City (10-9, 0-5) on Tuesday. If that happens, a coin flip would decide the top seed to the 5A Region 1 tournament, and the site of next Friday’s first-round games.

Coeur d’Alene is idle until regionals begin.

The Vikings played without senior guard Erin Legel, who has signed a letter of intent with NAIA University of Great Falls. Legel is suffering from a bruised calf muscle, but Poffenroth said she would be available for regionals.

Without her, Caelyn Orlandi had 12 points, four rebounds and two steals for Coeur d’Alene, and held Lake City’s leading scorer, point guard Jasmyn Smith, to one basket and three points. Kendalyn Brainard added 10 points for the Vikings, and Madison Sumner, who started for Legel, had six rebounds and three steals.

Coeur d’Alene led 19-16 at halftime, then used an 11-0 run to break open the game in the second half. Lake City went more than 8 minutes without a basket during that stretch, which spanned from early in the third quarter until early in the fourth, and the T-Wolves went nearly 11 minutes between baskets.

“I’m really happy with our effort — we held the No. 1 team in the state to 36 points,” Lake City coach Royce Johnston said. “It seemed to me that they really overplayed us (in the second half), and we didn’t react to their pressure and their double-teams as well as we should have. And that’s why they are the No. 1 team (in the state) — they take the things that you want to do, and do well, away from you.”

Jansen Butler had seven points and six rebounds for Lake City.

Coeur d’Alene, which beat Lake City by 16 and 20 points in the first two meetings this season, was just 8 of 17 from the free-throw line.

Coeur d’Alene 6 13 9 8 — 36

Lake City 7 9 2 6 — 24

COEUR d’ALENE — S. Parker 0, Sumner 4, Orlandi 12, K. Parker 4, Tackett 4, Brainard 10, S. Williams 2.

LAKE CITY — Jackson 5, Butler 7, Smith 3, Wheelock 0, Torres 3, Hawkes 2, Heidenreich 4.