The Front Row with Jason Elliott January 1, 2011

If Thursday's action at the Holiday Inn Express Invitational is any indication of what to expect in the New Year - where do you have to sign up to watch it all again.

WITHIN THE past three days, one thing has been discovered - teams in the northwest can play some basketball.

When Coeur d'Alene and Federal Way battled to the final seconds on Thursday night, most fans were on their feet as the game concluded, exactly what basketball should be about.

And when two defending state champions took the floor on Thursday afternoon, the intensity was about the same as when both Priest River and Post Falls took the floor at the Idaho Center in Nampa last March.

Even more impressive, the Trojans, with the win, took their record to 9-0 in their three years of competing in the tournament at NIC.

Lake City went the distance unbeaten in the tournament, with wins over Lake Stevens, Chiawana of Pasco and the defending state 3A champion Priest River.

The Coeur d'Alene boys finished 2-1, giving some fans a preview of what could be an interesting Region 1 tournament in a little over a month.

WHEN IT comes to girls basketball, it doesn't get much better than Thursday's championship game between Federal Way and Coeur d'Alene.

Coeur d'Alene trailed by 10 points midway through the fourth quarter and through a strong comeback was able to chip away at the advantage.

A three-pointer with 30 second left and a blocked shot at the buzzer by senior post Carli Rosenthal and the Vikings had won the first tournament title after a switch to a true format this season.

Lake City, in their opening game, hung with the Federal Way squad through four quarters and finished strong with a 2-1 record.

Lewiston and Post Falls both went 1-2 in the three day tournament to round out the 5A IEL teams.

THIS WEEK was a good test of how some of the local programs can respond to playing three games in three days, much like they'll have to at the state tournament.

Those teams that celebrated a little bit of success this week may have found the rotation to put them over the top, others are still looking for answers as the season hits the home stretch.

But the one answer that came from this week was that the Holiday Inn Express Invitational is becoming one of the top tournaments in the region.

As far as entertaining, you won't find a better spot to be than down by the lake.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d'Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via e-mail at jelliott@cdapress.com.