If nearly missing her first time being introduced during a postseason game was the worst thing to happen on Friday to Coeur d’Alene High freshman Madi Symons, she’d take it.

It was still pretty close.

Symons had a cut on the bottom of her right foot and had to run back to the bench during introductions — arriving just in time.

“I was trying to put a Band-Aid on the bottom of my foot, and it wasn’t going well at all,” Symons said. “I had to put it on quick and get back to the bench.”

She then scored 17 points for the second-seeded Vikings — 11 in the second half — in a 66-50 win over the third-seeded Post Falls Trojans in the opening round of the 5A Region 1 tournament at Viking Court.

Two miles across U.S. 95, senior Aubrey Avery hit six of Lake City’s 11 3-pointers and scored 20 points as the top-seeded Timberwolves beat the No. 4 seed Lewiston Bengals 57-33.

On Wednesday, Coeur d’Alene (17-4) visits Lake City (15-6) in the regional championship game, while Lewiston (3-18) travels to Post Falls (11-10) in a loser-out game. Both games start at 6:30 p.m.

Coeur d’Alene and Lake City split their two meetings in 5A Inland Empire League, each winning at home. Lake City won 61-47 in the Fight for the Fish game on Jan. 10, and Coeur d’Alene won 55-45 last Thursday.

Coeur d’Alene 66, Post Falls 50: Junior Nakisha Matheson, who scored 13 points off the bench for the Vikings, hit a jumper just as the first-half buzzer sounded to give Coeur d’Alene a 29-26 halftime lead.

“We got out to a great start, but missed six straight lay-ins,” Coeur d’Alene coach Nicole Symons said. “We did exactly what we wanted to do defensively, but when you start missing shots, it’s like a head game and you start second-guessing yourself.”

Junior Tori Younker hit a 3-pointer to give Coeur d’Alene a 25-22 lead with under two minutes remaining in the half after Post Falls had tied the game for the first time since early in the first quarter.

“(Post Falls coach) Marc (Allert) had his girls playing hard,” Nicole Symons said. “They were getting to every 50/50 ball in the first half. I thought they outplayed us in the first half, and we had to figure it out at halftime. We had to come out and play our kind of basketball where we’re the aggressors and pushing the ball down the floor, as well as valuing our possessions.”

Madi Symons scored the Vikings’ first seven points of the half. Junior Jaden Chavez added 14 points and Matheson scored 10 of her 13 in the second half.”

“I thought the entire team stepped up and played well,” Nicole Symons said. “With the foul trouble, we had to sit back in a 2-3 (zone), and take some time off the clock so we weren’t losing three to four girls. Offensively, I thought both Nakisha and Jaden did a good job of cutting and taking the open shot when they had the opportunity. They did a great job tonight.”

“Mostly she (coach Symons) told us to go out and play with heart, play hard and go out and do what we do,” said Madi Symons, the coach’s daughter. “And I think we did that pretty well.”

Senior Katie Fleming scored nine of her 12 points in the first half for Post Falls.

“We were all right offensively in the first half,” Allert said. “Coeur d’Alene was still the aggressors and we gave up way too many offensive rebounds in the first half. We gave them too many second-chance points. In the second half, we were not very good. They were the aggressors and coming after things, and we were the ones reacting to everything, and it was too slow. We didn’t guard anyone in the second half, and when we did, we’d foul them when we’d try to. Give them all the credit. We weren’t ready to play, and that’s on me. And we’ve got to be better.”

Post Falls 16 10 7 17 — 50

Coeur d’Alene 19 10 21 16 — 66

POST FALLS — Heath 10, Blake 2, Lovett 10, Johnson 4, Fleming 12, Smith 3, LaFountaine 0, Sims 0, Walton 2, Carpenter 4, Nichols 0, Grant 0, Crane 2, Gardiner 0.

COEUR d’ALENE — Matheson 13, Brainard-Adams 4, Whiteman 1, Symons 17, Younker 10, Chavez 14, Froehlich 1, Phenicie 0, Zanetti 0, Burke 6, Shebala 0.

Lake City 57, Lewiston 33: Junior Jaya Miller hit both of her 3-pointers in the first quarter as the Timberwolves made four 3s en route to a 15-5 lead after one quarter.

“I thought we played with really good energy; we came out fired up and with a playoff attitude,” Lake City coach James Anderson said. “It was good to see Jaya come out and help get us off to a good start.”

Junior Brooklyn Rewers added 13 points, 10 rebounds and seven blocked shots for Lake City, and sophomore Kendall Pickford had six points and nine assists.

Lake City was 11 of 27 from behind the arc.

Tai Bausch led Lewiston with 10 points.

Lewiston 5 7 8 13 — 33

Lake City 15 13 16 13 — 57

LEWISTON — Collins 0, Foss 0, Bausch 10, Grant 0, Grogan 0, Ortiz 3, Johnson 4, Barney 8, Taylor 0, Richardson 4, Wessels 4.

LAKE CITY — Pickford 6, Avery 20, Miller 6, Chase 0, Parks 0, Stoddard 0, Shanley 2, Roberts 2, Rewers 13, Reynolds 0, Hawkins 4, Munoz 4.