"BOISE — Back at the state girls basketball tournament for the first time in a decade, any hopes of a Lakeland upset run in 4A were quickly dashed by Caldwell at Timberline High on Thursday night.

Lakeland jumped out to fast 4-0 lead, but saw Caldwell answer with a 23-0 run — with Jalen Callendar scoring eight of her game-high 16 points in that run — as the Cougars (20-5) beat the Hawks 44-21.

“I think it was trying not to screw up,” Lakeland coach Steve Seymour said. “We knew they were really quick, and maybe I oversold their quickness, and maybe I put it in their heads that we had to take care of the ball. From the opening tip, we were fumbling. It was like we had a pointed basketball in the first quarter anyway.”

Lakeland, the Region 1 champion, had 18 first-half turnovers.

“They’re good too, but we made them a little better than they were,” Seymour said. “We would have had to play really well in order to be there, but we’re capable of playing better than that. We’re capable of taking care of the ball better than that. It was stuff we talked about. It’s tough, sometimes you’ve got to come down here and the kids have to go out and experience what the state tournament is like. And they’ve got to be able to bounce back from some adversity, and we didn’t do that in the game.”

Katy Ryan, a 6-foot-4 sophomore post, had seven points, six rebounds and three blocked shots for Lakeland (10-12), which faces Hillcrest (13-11) in a loser-out game today at 2 p.m. PST. Caldwell — the District 3 runner-up — advances to a semifinal game tonight at 7 against Minico (17-8).

“She had some rebounds, blocked some shots,” Seymour said of Ryan. “She gets the tar held out of her, pushed and it’s a lot more physical down here. She’s trying to get from block to block, and has two girls shoving at her. It’s a learning experience for her, and I wish it would have gotten to the free-throw line a little more. Some of those tricks are earned and learned in situations like these.”

“We knew she was going to be a big presence inside,” first-year Caldwell coach Ashley Green said of Ryan. “We were going to have to be selective with our inside shots, and our outside shooting was going to have to be on. And I thought we attacked the basket OK, and our bread and butter is transition and getting out in the game.”

Lakeland shot 9 of 40 from the field, 1 of 4 from the free-throw line.

“I think we could have played better,” Ryan said. “I know we can, because we have before. We all just decided to let it go, and trust each other. We’ve got a lot to give tomorrow.”

Caldwell, which won a game at state for the first time since 2001, outscored Lakeland just 13-12 in the second half.

“It’s just one of those deals, and why couldn’t we have done this in the second half,” Seymour said. “They did a good job of pushing us out of our rhythm, but we should have shot better and should have taken care of the ball better. But we’ll get a chance to play again.”

Caldwell 16 15 6 7 — 44

Lakeland 4 5 6 6 — 21

CALDWELL — Campos 2, Ju. Martinez 3, Ja. Martinez 5, Callendar 16, Vallejo 3, Bower 4, Strong 2, Moore 5, Campos 0, Williams 4, Kennedy 0. Totals 19-48 3-5 44.

LAKELAND — Boyer 0, Cooper 3, Kim 0, Cooley 0, McDevitt 2, Elpers 4, Loutzenhiser 0, Kirk 2, Ryan 7, Pruitt 3, Neff 0. Totals 9-40 1-4 21."

CDA Press full article

Photo by JASON DUCHOW PHOTOGRAPHY