POST FALLS - That motivation can carry you a long way if you let it.

And the Post Falls High girls basketball team used a lot of it Friday at The Arena.

Freshman Melody Kempton had 24 points and 13 rebounds and Sam Runkle had 18 points and five assists, leading the Trojans past the Lake City Timberwolves 59-50 in a 5A Inland Empire League game. Post Falls improves to 3-1 in the league heading into today's league game at first-place Lewiston (17-1, 4-0 5A IEL).

"We talked about it a little bit before the game," Post Falls coach Marc Allert said. "I told them if they kept winning, they'll get more chances to play at home."

Post Falls (14-4, 3-1) has now beaten Lake City twice, and can clinch the No. 2 seed to the Region 1 tournament with a win today at Lewiston or against visiting Coeur d'Alene on Thursday. Lake City (14-5, 2-3) travels to Lewiston next Saturday to conclude league play. All regional tourney games are at the home of the higher seed.

Lake City led 14-9 after the first quarter, but Post Falls took its first lead of the game at 19-17 with 4:33 in the first half and never looked back, outscoring Lake City 19-8 in the second quarter.

"I thought we came out a little not focused and mentally off," Allert said. "But we were able to clean that up in the second half and played a lot better."

Runkle scored 11 of her 18 points in the second quarter.

"They've always been our rivals and we've never really had the team motivation to actually play hard against them," Runkle said. "Now that we're at the same level of competition, we were really looking forward to that game."

Runkle is one of two remaining players from Post Falls' championship team in 2013, along with Madie King and Shayna Allert.

"Knowing the environment for this game, we were pretty well prepared for it," Runkle said.

"Sam is just a mismatch nightmare for some people," Allert said. "When she starts hitting outside shots, with as well as she drives to the basket, she's tough to guard."

Kempton scored six of the Trojans' nine first quarter points, and added seven in the fourth quarter.

"She made some plays where I turned around and said 'I just hope I don't screw her up,'" Allert said. "She made some plays tonight that kids that age don't. She made some plays on defense where she slid across the lane to make a block. She's going to be OK."

Whitney Meier scored 20 points for Lake City, which faces Glacier High today in Kalispell, Mont.

"Give Post Falls the credit, they hit all the shots they needed to," Lake City coach Bryan Kelly said. "We tried to play off Sam, and she had a heck of a game. We need to play four quarters as hard as we can. We have spurts where we kind of lose focus and they'll go on a 10-point run, and we don't ever get that back. We came out and played well in the first quarter, but started turning the ball over. It's stuff we can definitely fix, but Post Falls played hard the entire game, and we need to match that."

Lauren Rewers had six rebounds and five points, Clarissa Smith eight points and three assists and Halle Eborall four assists for Lake City.

"The girls know who we need to beat to get where we need to go," Kelly said. "But I think we're right there, but we've got to put a solid four quarters in to get it done."

Post Falls has won three of four since the start of 2015.

"I think we've gotten better defensively and are a little more in tune offensively," Allert said. "We're starting to execute a little better. Tonight, it was Melody and Sam, and tomorrow it could be somebody completely different. We've had 9 or 10 different kids in double figures at some point. The good thing about it is I don't know who it's going to be, but somebody will step up and score us some points."

Lake City 14 8 12 16 - 50

Post Falls 9 19 17 14 - 59

LAKE CITY - Eborall 4, Carlson 0, K. Maryon 0, Wheelock 7, Smith 8, O. Maryon 5, Rewers 5, Meier 20, Simpson 1.

POST FALLS - Allert 0, O. Ellison 3, A. Ellison 0, Brennan 3, Anderson 0, Kempton 24, Runkle 18, Reynolds 6.