STATE 6A GIRLS BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT: Jumping for joy ... Coeur d'Alene hangs on late to beat Borah, advance to state semifinals

By JASON ELLIOTT

Sports writer

NAMPA — Survived.

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Coeur d’Alene, which led 53-43 with 3:22 remaining, got a defensive stop with 1.2 seconds remaining after Borah forced a late turnover with 10 seconds remaining, and the Vikings held on to beat the Lions of Boise 61-59 in first round of the state 6A girls basketball tournament at the Ford Idaho Center on Thursday.

Coeur d’Alene, seeded fourth, went up by 15 points early in the third quarter on a jumper by junior Brookeslee Colvin, who finished with 35 points and 10 rebounds.

“At the end of the day, the most important thing was that we had a comfortable lead,” second-year Coeur d’Alene coach Stacy Boyd said. “I told my players down the stretch, don’t put it in the refs' hands. Those possessions right there are the things that can hurt you, or go to your advantage.”

Borah, the fifth seed, began sending Coeur d’Alene to the foul line with 3:22 remaining, then trailed 59-52 with 53.3 seconds remaining before rallying.

“The last few minutes, we went into panic mode,” Boyd said. “We got a little lax on defense with that. But they were able to close it out and get the win. It was kind of like deja vu and playing the same team again at state.”

Coeur d’Alene (22-2) will face top-seeded Eagle (23-2) in the semifinals today at 4 p.m. PST at the Ford Idaho Center. Eagle, which beat Coeur d’Alene 75-56 in November, beat Madison of Rexburg 73-51 on Thursday.

It is Coeur d'Alene's third straight trip to the semifinals.

“Eagle’s well coached,” Boyd said. “Their 1 through 8 look good, so their bench is strong. Their role players, they play well together. We’ll mix it up and hopefully we’ll play them a little harder than the first meeting and see what we can get done.”

On the inbounds play, Coeur d’Alene forced a jump ball with 1.2 seconds left, giving the ball back to the Vikings, who threw to midcourt to run out the clock.

“It was a little crazy,” Colvin said. “But we just had to lock in and get that one stop and get on to tomorrow.”

Senior Karisa Wallis, who has signed with NAIA University of Providence in Great Falls, Mont., had 16 points and six rebounds for Coeur d’Alene.

“I think we just stayed calm and realized we needed to talk more,” Wallis said. “If we talk through this, we knew we were going to get through this. We didn’t have one negative thought.”

Wallis was 2 of 4 from the 3-point line and 6 of 8 from the free-throw line.

“It felt really good,” Wallis said. “I haven’t been able to shoot great on these hoops (at the Idaho Center) the last few years. It felt really good to have a good game.”

“Karisa, we had a talk before the game,” Boyd said. “I told her this could be her last game on this court, or you can live to play another day. And she accepted that challenge. She played great and was locked in today.”

Colvin, the Viking girls' all-time leading scorer now with an even 1,500 points, was 17 of 22 from the free-throw line for Coeur d’Alene.

“You’ve got to get them where you can get them at state,” Colvin said. “I think we just tried to settle in. We played well in the first half and maybe got a little lax in the fourth quarter, but we did what we had to do to get a win.”

“Brookeslee is a great player,” Wallis said. “When she sees us when we’re open, she gets us the ball. When she’s hot, I want her to break records and score as many points. We’re still all scoring and she’s sharing the ball.”

Junior Kya Davis had 23 points and six rebounds for Borah (20-6), which faces Madison (16-10) in a loser-out game today at Mountain View High in Meridian.

Borah, coached by former North Idaho College player Ebony Norman, shot 21 of 53, including 1 of 16 from the 3-point line.

“We were switching things up and they made some adjustments,” Boyd said. “We went into a couple of defensive sets that weren’t beneficial, so we switched it again. At one point, we had to go defense/offense. At the end of the day, they did enough to win the game. I’m proud of them. Now we’ll go and prepare for Eagle.”

Borah        13    11    14    21    —   59

Coeur d’Alene    15    21    10    15    —    61

BORAH — Hall 0, Orcutt 3, Evans 12, Gardiner 5, Howington 6, Krasselt 2, Chase 8, Davis 23. Totals 21-53 16-19 59.

COEUR d’ALENE — Wheeler 0, Brown 2, Bridge 0, Wallis 16, Colvin 25, Shafer 0, Semprimoznik 8, Robertson 0. Totals 15-46 25-32 61.

    JASON DUCHOW PHOTOGRAPHY Coeur d'Alene senior Karisa Wallis shoots a 3-pointer during the second half of Thursday's game against Borah in the state 6A girls basketball tournament at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa.
  

    JASON DUCHOW PHOTOGRAPHY Coeur d'Alene guards Brookeslee Colvin and Natalie Semprimoznik dive on the floor to force a jump ball late in the fourth quarter of Thursday's state 6A girls basketball tournament opening round game at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa.