The Front Row with JASON ELLIOTT Feb. 20, 2013

It was kind of a fitting end to the girls basketball season last Saturday night in the Idaho Center in Nampa.

The top two teams in 5A - Post Falls and Coeur d'Alene - went to overtime, almost two had it not been for a tough shot bouncing off the rim at the buzzer, with the Trojans winning 46-44 in a game between the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in 5A.

ONE TEAM had to lose - and that wound up being Coeur d'Alene, but it wasn't without an outstanding effort.

Injuries to a pair of starters hampered Coeur d'Alene as guard Sydni Parker (left knee) and forward Kendalyn Brainard (left ankle) were limited in what they could and couldn't do on the court all weekend.

But both kept playing - even when Brainard injured her knee in the third quarter and had to have it taped up just to get back on the court.

"When I went for a layin, I came off the wrong foot," Brainard said. "I came down on the knee wrong, but it's not as bad as when I tore my ACL my sophomore year."

Of those players on the floor for Coeur d'Alene, only Brainard and guard Caelyn Orlandi are seniors. The Vikings have played in seven of the last eight state championship games - winning three straight from 2008 to '10.

And Viking coach Dale Poffenroth believes they can get right back to the title game next year.

"We have a chance to be back again," Poffenroth said. "We just need to see some improvement in some people. Tabby (Wellsandt) needs to play like she did in the play-in games (against Lewiston and Boise) every night. Last year, I think we let one get away (lost 58-56 to Centennial in the semifinals). But I don't think we did this year."

THE TEAM that won the tournament, Post Falls, definitely earned it.

Not only did the Trojans have to gut out the state championship game against Coeur d'Alene to win, they also edged the No. 3 team in the state, Highland of Pocatello, on Friday 42-41.

Trailing late in the game, Highland battled back to eventually pull within 42-41 on a 3-pointer. In what remains as the craziest final moments of a game all weekend, neither team could hit a free throw late and following a miss by Highland, the clock ran out — and the Trojans advanced to the title game.

In the title game, trailing by three points with 38 seconds remaining in overtime, Post Falls scored the last five points of the weekend to win the game.

After most of the fans had cleared out of the Idaho Center, and only the Trojans and Vikings remained on the court — some of those players returned to the court to take some pictures and enjoy one last memory of a great weekend of basketball.

“I told those seniors that they didn’t want to quit playing basketball now,” Post Falls coach Marc Allert said of his final timeout in overtime. “That’s what we expected them to do and it was a great game.”

Something that both schools should take a ton of pride in, even a few days later.

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