Wildcats struggle early, coast to win

The Kellogg Wildcats did their part to secure the second seed in the 3A District I tournament when they knocked off Coeur d’Alene Charter 51-33 on Thursday night.

For the second time in three nights the Wildcats needed a big second half to secure a win after the Panthers held Kellogg to just 13 point and led 19-13 at halftime.

Charter came out swinging and stunned the Wildcats, who struggled to score for the first 16 minutes of the game, but then Abby Arthur took over for the Wildcats.

Arthur used every aspect of her game to score 14 of her game high 19 points in the second half and help Kellogg walk out of Andrews Gymnasium with a win on their final regular season game.

After Arthur, Kellogg was led in scoring by Kaili Cates with 12 points and Marley Chambers who finished with eight for the Wildcats.

Kellogg now will await the result of the game between Bonners Ferry and Timberlake (odds are clearly in favor of defending state champion Timberlake), should the Tigers win, Kellogg and Bonners will enter into a tie with the Badgers for second place and then a coin flip will determine who gets the second seed in next week’s district tournament.

Kellogg and Bonners Ferry will play each other in the first round of the tournament no matter what, but should the Wildcats get the second seed and find themselves in the loser’s bracket, playing for second place, they will be the host school for the second place game.

Kellogg will play Bonners Ferry on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. at North Idaho College.