Warriors down Wampus Cats

COEUR d’ALENE — Kootenai won just two games during the regular season, but picked the right time to get hot.

The third-seeded Warriors swept through the 1A Division II District 1 tournament, beating the top-seeded Clark Fork Wampus Cats 34-23 in the championship game Thursday night at Lake City High.

Kootenai (4-18), which ousted No. 2 Mullan in the semifinals on Monday, will face Dietrict (23-1) in its state tourney opener next Thursday at 12:15 p.m. PST at Nampa High. It’s the Warriors’ first trip to state since 2008.

Tessa Vogel led the Wampus Cats (8-13) with nine points and Mariah Miller and Lyndsie Kiebert each scored five, but the Cats could never find a rhythm offensively as their season came to an end.

The Wampus Cats played stellar defense to keep the game close, trailing just 25-23 with less than two minutes to go, before Kootenai closed with a 9-0 run to pull away.

It was a season of what might have been for the Cats, who lost the best player in the North Star League for the year when senior Dimi Kailang injured her ankle. The team rallied, and notched some solid league wins along the way, but will miss state for the first time in four years.

Kootenai    6 10 3 15 — 34

Clark Fork 6  5  6  6 — 23

KOOTENAI — Goodson 8, Keogh 0, Carman 6, Schultz 0, Andersen 2, McInturff 10, Martin 4, Dutton 4, Short 0.

CLARK FORK — Frazier 0, Ly. Kiebert 5, Le. Kiebert 0, Vogel 9, Heigis 2, Miller 5, Wurm 2.