Sluggish Coeur d’Alene beats Lewiston

Dale Poffenroth gladly took the win Saturday afternoon, but that was about all the redeeming quality he saw in his Coeur d’Alene High girls basketball team’s 49-37 win over Lewiston.

The No. 1-ranked Vikings were flat from the start, and the way Poffenroth saw it, they were flat throughout the Inland Empire League game.

Still, the Viks held off Lewiston, which played smart in a game that was much closer than the final score indicated.

“There were just times when everybody on the team – it was like they weren’t there,” Poffenroth said. “The seniors at times were just standing around and the other kids at times were just there. Other than (Sadie) Simon I think every one of them had a spot where they went brain dead. I don’t know why. Maybe they were walking around on their laurels of what they did before. Maybe they didn’t think Lewiston was that good. I don’t know.”

Save a 3-point basket by CdA guard Sadie Simon with 1 second to go in the second quarter, Lewiston would have led at halftime. This despite falling behind 10-2 early.

A 3-pointer by Joey Larsen gave Lewiston a 19-16 lead with 1:11 to go before halftime. But a free throw from post Deanna Dotts coupled with Simon’s long-range shot allowed the Vikings (13-1 overall, 7-0 league) to take a 20-19 lead into intermission.

CdA had its best offensive stretch early in the third quarter when the Viks used an 8-0 run to build a 31-23 lead.

Lewiston (6-6, 3-3) pulled within 36-33 when Kiki Edwards-Teasley made a short basket inside with about five minutes to go. But the Bengals would miss seven free throws in the final 2:56, while CdA made 9 of 10 in the final 3:36 to pull away.

Sophomore Kama Griffitts scored a game-high 19 points to lead CdA. She also had eight rebounds and two assists. Dotts, playing in her first game since breaking the pinky finger on her shooting hand four games into the season, had 10 points to go with five rebounds.

Edwards-Teasley led Lewiston with 15 points.