NAMPA - As Coeur d'Alene girls basketball coach Dale Poffenroth said following the Vikings' 55-36 win over Rocky Mountain of Meridian in their opener at the state 5A tournament at the Idaho Center - "if you're not making free throws, it's like you're giving away points."

The Vikings were pretty stingy in that regard on Thursday night.

Coeur d'Alene made 24 of 31 free throws - including 15 of 18 in the first half to build a 29-18 halftime lead.

"When the starters can put the ball in the hole, it makes a big difference," Poffenroth said. "It really makes everything go. It's playoff time now, so you need to make them or it's like giving away points."

Coeur d'Alene (20-5) will face Capital (17-7) of Boise in the semifinals tonight at 7 PST at the Idaho Center. Capital beat Madison (17-8) of Rexburg 42-31 on Thursday.

Coeur d'Alene outrebounded Rocky Mountain 32-29.

"Our kids hustled and got rebounds and did what they had to do," Poffenroth said. "Rocky's been winning all their games by hitting the offensive glass."

Coeur d’Alene senior Caelyn Orlandi had 13 points and five assists.

“I thought it was a great game because everyone did something tonight,” Orlandi said. “Everyone pitched in and played good defense. We got boards, moved the ball around and got the shots we wanted and just played a good all-around basketball game.”

Kendalyn Brainard — who missed the Vikings’ two loser-out games last week with a severely sprained left ankle — returned to score eight points and grab three rebounds in the win.

“She got the cast off on Tuesday, but didn’t practice until today (Thursday) at the shootaround,” Poffenroth said. “Between then and now, it could have swelled up and she could have been in pain, but it didn’t and she wasn’t. There was one time (Cd’A assistant coach and Kendalyn’s mother) Apryl (Brainard) told her to run down the court and I said ‘no, to walk, we’re fine.’ We’ve still got two days to go yet. It’s a long battle, but it’s not 100 percent yet. She can do some things, but you get your pieces back and it can lead you to some good things.”

Brainard sat out the fourth quarter to rest her ankle, giving way to Tabitha Wellsandt, who scored four of her six points in the final quarter.

“Tabby’s been doing a great job for us,” Poffenroth said. “She’s learning what needs to be done between two starts in loser-out games and really pulls her weight out there and came in and did a fine job as a sub tonight.”

Junior guard Madi Kelly had 13 points, five rebounds and three assists for Rocky Mountain (20-4), which shot 15 of 48 from the field.

“They shoot their free throws really well,” Rocky Mountain coach Emery Roy said. “And that really hurt us, but we fouled too much in the first half. We’ve got to make points and can’t shoot in the 20 percent range.”

Roy — the longtime Meridian and Centennial coach who moved to Rocky Mountain this year — beat Coeur d’Alene in last year’s semifinals.

“They’re pretty much the same team as last year,” Roy said. “But they’re really good this year and they might be better than last year. It’s always fun to go against Dale. It’s just a couple of old timers getting after each other — and that’s a lot of fun.”

Coeur d’Alene 15 13 16 11 — 55

Rocky Mountain 11 6 7 12 — 36

COEUR d’ALENE — Parker 2, Sumner 8, Chalich 3, Orlandi 13, Callahan 0, Tackett 4, Scholwinski 0, Matheson 0, Brainard 8, Wellsandt 6, Williams 11. Totals 15-37 24-31 55.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN — Kelly 13, Aragon 0, Taylor 0, Verity 2, Jafek 0, Rodgers 4, Nate 8, Hochstein 6, Lorentson 3. Totals 15-48 5-11 36.