COEUR d’ALENE — Streaks are made to be broken.

And for the Lake City girls basketball team, it had been a while since they’d beaten the Coeur d’Alene Vikings in 5A Inland Empire League play.

Eight years.

Finished.

Keara Simpson, a 6-foot freshman forward, had 14 points and seven rebounds to lead Lake City past Coeur d’Alene 53-36 in a 5A Inland Empire League game on Tuesday at Elmer Jordan Court.

Lake City’s last win against Coeur d’Alene in league play was Jan. 12, 2007, when the Timberwolves beat the Vikings in the Fight for the Fish spirit game. Lake City went on to beat Coeur d’Alene later that year 46-40 in the state 5A championship game in Nampa.

“Our expectations are high this year,” Lake City coach Bryan Kelly said. “That’s a great win for us coming into Coeur d’Alene after not winning here for a while.”

Last Wednesday, Lake City beat Coeur d’Alene 49-28 in the third-place game of the Coeur d’Alene Winter Classic, giving the Timberwolves their first win overall against the Vikings since 2011.

“I’m proud of them,” Kelly said. “They’re working hard and coming together as a team. There’s going to be nights where it’s a roller coaster, and I thought they responded well after halftime to get the momentum back.”

Lake City outscored Coeur d’Alene 31-17 in the second half, including 17-4 in the decisive fourth quarter.

“I thought in the first half, we came out with a bit of a struggle,” Simpson said. “I don’t think we were all there, but we played a lot better in the second half. We got a little bit of a fire inside of us in the locker room and played a lot better in the second half.”

Simpson and sophomore post Lauren Rewers combined for 22 points for Lake City (13-2, 1-0 5A IEL), which hosts Post Falls on Thursday.

“Those two are great down low for us,” Kelly said. “It’s nice to have them down there. They’re kind of different basketball players, so you can go with two different angles with them. Both of them are just playing great right now.”

Natalie Wheelock had seven assists, Olivia Maryon had six points and seven rebounds, and Whitney Meier scored seven of her nine points in the final quarter for Lake City.

Isabella Hollibaugh scored nine points and Madisen Scholwinski had six points, 10 rebounds, four blocks and three steals for Coeur d’Alene (8-5, 0-2), which visits Bonners Ferry on Saturday.

“It was a huge improvement for us,” Coeur d’Alene coach Dale Poffenroth said. “The final score was almost the same as the last time, but the way it came about was completely different. We’re doing some things better and didn’t let some of the things they did bother us like they did (last Wednesday).”

Coeur d’Alene had 12 turnovers and shot 11 of 53 from the field. Last Wednesday, Coeur d’Alene shot 9 for 30, but had 28 turnovers in the third-place game.

“Without the turnovers, it made a big difference,” Poffenroth said. “We had some open shots, but they just didn’t go in. We’ve got to work on our shooting, but if those shots go down, it makes a huge difference. I think there’s some progress being made. The kids played hard and did what they were supposed to do and took another step in the right direction.”

The teams will play again on Jan. 16 in the annual Fight for the Fish spirit game at Lake City High.

Lake City 16 6 14 17 — 53

Coeur d’Alene 10 9 13 4 — 36

LAKE CITY — Eborall 1, C. Dvorak 0, Carlson 4, Wheelock 2, Smith 9, O. Maryon 6, Rewers 8, Meier 9, Simpson 14.

COEUR d’ALENE — Miller 6, Horvath 7, Callahan 8, Fagan 0, Ellison 0, Rollins