Girls basketball tips off in North Idaho

Thanks to a football game, girls basketball season in North Idaho starts one day earlier this year.

Coeur d'Alene Charter Academy gets under way tonight at the Silver Valley Tournament at Kellogg, taking on Wallace at 7:30 p.m. Mullan and Kellogg play at 6.

Winners play Saturday at 7:30; losers play at 6. The first day of the tourney was bumped up from Friday because Wallace is playing in the state 1A Division I football semifinals Friday night.

Lakeland and Lake City open on Saturday, squaring off at Lake City.

The other local teams start next week.

On Tuesday, Coeur d'Alene is home vs. Moscow, Post Falls is home vs. Sandpoint, Timberlake travels to Wallace, Kootenai plays Coeur d'Alene Charter at Holy Family Catholic School, and St. Maries is home vs. the Lake City junior varsity.

Lakeside opens next Friday at home, hosting the North Star League tournament.

Here's a brief look at Coeur d'Alene Charter. Other teams will be covered briefly in upcoming days. All will be covered in the upcoming Press winter sports special section.

Coeur d’Alene Charter Academy: Junior point guard Lexi Turkenburg is the lone returning starter for the Panthers, who went 14-7 last year. Turkenburg has been the starting point guard since her freshman year.

“She’s definitely going to be looked to score (more) for us,” said Logan Grant, in his third year as head coach.

Paige Kelly, last year’s leading scorer, graduated. Sophomore wing/post Amber Ferguson suffered a torn ACL in her right knee at the 2A District 1-2 volleyball tournament. She tore her other ACL playing basketball in the eighth grade.

Junior wing Capria Rinaldi, freshman post/wing Anna Verhaeghe, freshman post Sarah Haman and senior post Katie Johnson are the other probable starters, said Grant, whose tallest player is 5-7.

“If we can get out and run and actually use our (lack of) size to our advantage, instead of a disadvantage, we could be all right,” Grant said.