The Front Row with JASON ELLIOTT Jan. 25, 2012

It might be hard to imagine, but we're a little over three weeks from the conclusion of the girls basketball season.

Shortly thereafter, wrestling and boys basketball will follow to lead into the start of spring sports.

That is, if the snow and cold weather go away sooner than later.

CHANCES ARE we haven't seen the last of the snow, postponements and rescheduling nightmares that made more headlines last week, instead of a few wrestling duals and basketball games.

And last Friday, on what could have been the best day of the week - almost everything was canceled, outside of Scenic West Athletic Conference basketball games between North Idaho College and Utah State-Eastern in Price.

You'd figure traveling to Utah this time of year might have resulted in a bit of snow, but it was a polar opposite, with temperatures in the 50s and no snow according to both NIC coaches.

The Cardinals will run into Snow again this weekend, but this time it will be in Ephraim when they face the Badgers.

But face it, this is North Idaho, where if it snows during January for a couple days, it is expected.

I just hope that it doesn't decide to hang around like last year - when a lot of those spring sports games were played in freezing cold weather.

As much as most people might enjoy a little bit of nice weather for the final round of prep sports in the school year, I'm not counting on that either.

SEEDING FOR the 5A Region 1 girls basketball tournament won't be determined until next Tuesday when Lake City travels to Lewiston.

The Lewiston and Coeur d'Alene girls are both 4-1 in the 5A IEL standings, with a game to go.

Barring a loss by either Coeur d'Alene or Lewiston, the top seed and hosting the opening round games will come down to a coin flip.

The Coeur d’Alene girls conclude the regular season on Friday night at Lake City.

Lewiston’s final IEL game will be against Lake City on Jan. 31 at Booth Hall — a game rescheduled from Jan. 20 — and the regional tournament starts three days later.

The Bengals have hosted the regional tournament the past two years and the two teams representing the area have also met again for a state championship in Nampa.

WITH THE evening off on Monday, there was no better place to be for me than in a gymnasium in Wallace when the Kellogg Wildcats came to town in a nonleague boys basketball game.

I’ve seen a lot of these games in recent years, but nothing like I witnessed on Monday night.

Kellogg’s defense, which is one reason why the Wildcats were ranked No. 1 in the 3A media poll earlier this year, held Wallace to 16 points and only five field goals in the 69-16 win.

Hopefully the outcome isn’t like the rest of the winter — going ice cold and being pounded by a tough defense.

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 email at [email protected].