By Jordan Rodriguez, Special to NWPrepsNow.com
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NAMPA, Idaho – After three years of close calls and heartbreak, the Coeur d’Alene girls basketball team’s senior class was fixated on winning the ultimate prize.
Mission accomplished.
Coeur d’Alene’s five senior starters played all but the final 1.1 seconds and dominated the fourth quarter as the Vikings defeated Rocky Mountain 58-47 in the 5A State final at the Ford Idaho Center.
“These kids have worked so hard for so many years,” said coach Dale Poffenroth, who has led the Vikings to four of the past seven State 5A titles. “I’m pretty proud of them, especially the five starters to be able to play the whole game and finish the way they did.”
Senior post Sydney Williams led Coeur d’Alene with 23 points – including 19 in the second half – but the Vikings got big contributions from all five starters. Madison Sumner scored 14 points, Sara Chalich chipped in 11, Brittany Tackett pulled down 11 rebounds and Sydni Parker dished out seven assists.
“It’s overwhelming,” Williams said. “All of our hard work has finally paid off in the trophy and the reward that we’ve been working for. It’s an incredible feeling.”
Coeur d’Alene (23-2) controlled the pace early and Chalich poured in 10 first-half points as the Vikings went into the locker room with a 25-20 lead.
But Rocky Mountain – which stunned Lewiston with a furious second-half rally in Friday’s semifinal – scored the first six points of the second half to take its first lead of the night. The Grizzlies led 38-35 through three quarters, handing Coeur d’Alene its first fourth-quarter deficit of the state tournament.
“Between quarters, Poff said ‘You guys have one more quarter left in your lifetime. It’s up to you to either make it or break it,’” Chalich said. “So we went out and played our hearts out for those eight minutes, and we got the job done.”
Coeur d’Alene outscored Rocky Mountain 23-9 in the final period as Williams took over in the post. The Grizzlies had no answer for the University of San Diego signee, who made 9 of 15 field goals while adding seven rebounds and four assists.
“The kids ran our bread-and-butter play (to Williams) and we put it away,” Poffenroth said.
Maya Rodgers (13 points, eight rebounds) and Megan Hochstein (11 points, eight rebounds) scored in double figures for Rocky Mountain (24-2), but it wasn’t enough for the Grizzlies to break the Inland Empire League’s stranglehold on the State 5A tournament.
IEL teams have won eight consecutive 5A titles, with all four schools winning at least once.
