PREP BASKETBALL: Lake City girls breeze into title game at Tark Classic

GIRLS

LAS VEGAS — Slowing the game down while they were on defense, but pushing the pace when they got the ball.

That formula worked wonders for the Lake City Timberwolves, who blitzed Bishop Loughlin of Brooklyn, N.Y., 54-31 on Monday at Orleans Arena in a Diamond Bracket semifinal game at the Tarkanian Classic.

“It seemed like everybody that played had really good moments,” Lake City coach James Anderson said. “It was a really balanced effort. We played a lot of zone; we thought that would be a better way to contain the penetration of their better players, especially A’riel (Jackson, a 5-9 point guard who has signed with Cincinnati). Watching them Saturday, we thought we were in better shape than they were. We wanted to push it when we had the chance.”

Emberlyn Reynolds scored 12 points, Kendall Pickford 11, Sophia Zufelt 10 for Lake City (13-0), which plays Spring Valley of Las Vegas today at 1:20 p.m. at Durango High in the championship game.

Lake City led 36-27 with about 12 minutes left in the game (played with two 16-minute halves) when Anderson emphasized pushing the pace, and the T-Wolves pulled away.

Focusing its defense on Jackson, Lake City held the Division I recruit to seven points.

“They rely so much on A’riel,” Anderson said. “Chardonnay (who hit five 3-pointers and scored a game-high 18 points) shot ball well. “We had so much emphasis on A’riel that we gave up shots from Chardonnay.”

Anderson praised the rebounding of Reynolds, Kendall and Kamryn Pickford at the bottom of the zone, as well as Kursten McKellips off the bench.

“Our rebounding was exceptional,” he said. “We rebounded as well as we have all year.”

Spring Valley is led by Alliayah Gayles, who has signed with USC. We'll have to play exceptionally well.”

Anderson said he thought his team had an “outside chance” of reaching the title game, once he saw the eight teams on his half of the 16-team bracket. “I couldn’t be more proud of our girls; they’ve fought like heck every possession. Playing in Orleans (site of the West Coast Conference men’s and women’s basketball tournaments) was like a state tournament setting. We’re excited to play in the championship game.”

Lake City 24 30 — 54

Bishop Loughlin 12 19 — 31

LAKE CITY — Ke. Pickford 11, Ka. Pickford 8, Bowman 0, Zufelt 10, Waddington 6, McKellips 7, Holzer 0, Reynolds 12, Zimmerman 0.

BISHOP LOUGHLIN — Chardonnay 18, Janae 1, Kennedy 0, Krisyann 0, Lexie 0, Jayna 3, Malachia 0, Jaslin 2, A’riel Jackson 7.

Coeur d’Alene 82

West Valley-Yakima 25

YAKIMA, Wash. — Junior Madi Symons poured in a career-high 38 points — 25 in the first half — as the Vikings raced past the Rams.

Skylar Burke added 20 points for Coeur d’Alene (10-0), which led 57-20 at halftime. “Girls played very well and moved the ball,” Coeur d’Alene coach Nicole Symons said. “Our defensive pressure was great too. It was fun to watch them starting to play together and find our team identity.”

Paige Bremerman scored 13 points for West Valley (2-7). Coeur d’Alene wraps up its quick two-game road trip today at Eisenhower of Yakima at 1 p.m.

Coeurd’Alene 28 29 17 8 — 82

WestValley 14 6 4 1 — 25

COEUR d’ALENE — Bengtson 0, Mitchell 7, Schlosser 0, Symons 38, Legg 0, Jones 2, Shebala 2, Naccarato 2, Smart 0, Lopez 0, Holecek 4, Phenicie 3, Carroll 5, Burke 20.

WEST VALLEY — Hill 3, Leiberknecht 0, Fries 0, Tweedy 0, Bell 0, Bremerman 13, Betterton 2, Hatfield 0, Kraft 7, Steiner 0.

Post Falls 46

Birmingham 30

LAS VEGAS — Post Falls beat Birmingham in nonleague action in Las Vegas.

Letti Asper had 10 for Post Falls, while Capri Sims hit for 6 points and nabbed 10 rebounds. Janna Holley led Birmingham with 10 points. Post Falls will play Lee High School (Alabama) at noon today at Durango High in Las Vegas as part of the championship game at the Tarkanian Classic, Ruby Bracket.

Post Falls 18 28 — 46

Birmingham 327—30

Post Falls — Asper 10, Berg 0, Brennan 6, Christensen 2, Crane 4, Grant 3, Heath 7, Mclean 4, Nichols 2, Sims 6, Walton 2.

Birmingham — Berry 8, Holley 12, Martinez 2, Peters 3, Soonthonthum 3, Washington 2, Williams 0.

Immaculate Conception 52

Christian Center School 27

COEUR d'ALENE — Christian Center School fell on the road to Immaculate Conception Academy at Holy Family. Devon Hansen led CCS with 16 points, while Colton Smith and Joseph Badgely each notched 4.

Liam Kramer put in 24 points for ICA.

CCS is 3-4 overall and 2-5 in league competition, and plays Flathead next at 1:30 p.m. Dec. 27 at Holy Family.

CCS 7 4 9 7 — 27

ICU 15 15 12 10 — 52

Christian Center — Badgely 4, Barnhart 0, Hamblin 0, Hansen 16, McWhorter 3, Porter 0, Seacrest 0, Smith 4, Stark 0 Immaculate Conception — Darakjy 2, Liam Kramer 24, Seamus Kramer 14, Melnick 3, Souza 2, Wilhelm 7

• BOYS

Kellogg 66

Wallace 51

WALLACE — Tanner Groves had 23 points and four assists for the Wildcats in a nonleague win over the Miners at Kirby Krulitz Court. Riply Luna had 17 points, seven steals and four assists and Kolby Luna 15 points and five steals for Kellogg (6-2), which faces Lapwai in the Avista Holiday Classic on Dec. 28 at Lewis-Clark State College.

Brad Tesky scored 14 points and Robbie Morin 13 points for Wallace (2-4), which hosts Priest River on Jan. 4.

Kellogg 14211219 —66

Wallace 82212 9—51

KELLOGG — Miller 2, Whatcott 0, R. Luna 17, K. Luna 15, McLean 4, Groves 23, Maciosek 0, Frohlich 4, Walker 3, Hendrix 1, Bristow 0.

WALLACE — Goldade 2, Davis 6, Tesky 14, Streeter 2, Allison 6, Jaramillo 0, Hasz 0, Schmidt 1, Murdock 0, Morin 13, Hull 0, Wilkinson 0.