The Front Row with JASON ELLIOTT Feb. 16, 2013
Realizing your dreams.
Playing through pain to help your team earn the ultimate goal of a championship.
Or seeing familiar faces - whatever story lines you're looking for, you'll find them at a state basketball tournament.
LITALIEN'S A WARRIOR: Days before Post Falls senior guard Brooke Litalien took the floor at the state 5A girls basketball tournament at the Idaho Center in Nampa, she'd already achieved one of her life-long dreams.
Litalien, who was receiving recruiting interest from Warner Pacific, Western Oregon and Concordia, signed a letter of intent to play at NAIA Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston.
"The coaches were very nice and the team was nice when I went on my visit," Litalien said. "It just left like it was the perfect fit for me. I love the athletic facilities and academically, they've got what I want."
She plans to study biology and become a criminal radiologist when she's older.
"It's something she's always wanted to do," Post Falls coach Marc Allert said. "It's been one of her goals for a long time. She got it, and she deserves it. It's always been one of her dreams to play college basketball and I think it's a good fit for her. It's close to her family and they can go watch her play."
SITTING OUT: In two of the Coeur d'Alene Vikings' biggest games of the season - loser-out games against Lewiston last Thursday in Coeur d'Alene and a state play-in game against Boise two days later in Grangeville - the Vikings had to get to state without four-year starter Kendalyn Brainard.
Brainard, a forward who hadn't practiced in a week leading into the state tournament, but was cleared to play on Tuesday, returned to the lineup in Thursday's 55-36 win against Rocky Mountain of Meridian in the first round.
"It was great to have Kendalyn back," senior guard Caelyn Orlandi said. "She's been having trouble with her ankle, but came back and did great and made some things happen. Every night, it's feeling a little bit better and just keeps improving. She’s doing good. It’s great to have her back on the floor.”
Sitting was nothing new to Brainard, who tore her ACL nearly three years ago and missed the first two months of the season.
“It’s been hard, but I had faith in my teammates,” said Brainard, who signed with the University of Great Falls, an NAIA school, a couple of weeks ago. “I knew my teammates were just waiting for a time to step up. I was used to sitting from getting hurt my sophomore season and having to sit. I’ve been there, done that before. I was just hoping our team could get us here and they did — it worked out perfectly.”
STRONG REASONING: With officials set long in advance for this week’s state tournament, the chances that Mike Floch of District 1 calling the Vikings’ opener against Rocky Mountain of Meridian was a lot better then than any other time in the tournament.
“We try not to schedule officials from the same district/region,” 5A tournament director Randy Strong said. “But it’s really damn hard. The problem is you’ve got more Boise schools in the tournament and that’s where we get a lot of the officials.”
After the first day, tournament officials don’t usually set the assignments until all the games have been completed. Those called upon to ref the championship games aren’t determined until the night before.
“There’s no easy way to do it,” said Strong, who was an official for 41 years, including 20 state tournaments. “It’s really impossible to nail it down.”
Should two teams from the same region/district make it to a title game — anything is possible.
“We’ll avoid it if at all possible in a title game,” Strong said. “But if they’re from the same district — all bets are off.”
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 jelliott@cdapress.com.