Warriors topple Wampus Cats at district tourney opener

HARRISON FLATS — Morgan Willms had 17 points and four steals, leading the second-seeded Warriors past the third-seeded Wampus Cats 54-30 in the opening round of the 1A Division II District 1 tournament on Tuesday night at Kootenai High School.

Geoffry Boudousquie and Brandan Bowen each scored nine points and Boudousquie added three blocks, while Spencer Jeffres added eight points and 10 boards for the Wampus Cats (4-16), who were swept in all three meetings against the Warriors (10-10) this season.

“They’ve had our number all year, and we just didn’t have the confidence tonight. Kootenai shot the lights out, and we were hesitant on our shooting,” said Cats head coach Corey Vogel. “All three of my bigs got in foul trouble.”

Kootenai will travel to Lakeside (12-8) in the championship game on Thursday at 6 p.m., with the winner advancing to the state tournament starting next Thursday.

Hunter Whipple had 14 points and five steals and Colson Schultz had 10 points and eight rebounds for Kootenai.

“Defensively, we played really solid in the first half and forced them into some awkward shots,” Kootenai coach Doug Napierala said. “We did a good job on the boards and forced them into some tough shots.”

The Cats fell behind 12-2 in a cold first quarter, and struggled to a 26-9 halftime deficit. Vogel said his team was a little flat, and could never quite recover, despite closing the gap to 12 points in a solid third quarter.

“I’m proud of the boys for coming out strong in the second half. We came out and started pressing them,” said Vogel. “We just struggled shooting the ball.”

Clark Fork 2   7   11  10 — 30

Kootenai 12  14  10  18 — 54

CLARK FORK — Jeffres 8, Bowen 9, Vogel 0, Reeves 0, Stevens 0, Anderson 0, Cope 1, H. Boudousquie 0, G. Boudousquie 9, Moore 3.

KOOTENAI — J. Whipple 4, Willms 17, A. Keogh 7, H. Whipple 14, David 2, Schultz 10.