The Front Row with MARK NELKE March 10, 2013
Some thoughts on the recently completed winter sports season, with one more week to wait before we find out where the NCAA sends the Zags for March Madness:
* For the seventh straight year, the state 5A girls basketball tournament became the Inland Empire League invitational.
The Post Falls girls, led by four-year varsity players Dani Failor and Brooke Litalien, three-year varsity player Katie King and senior transfer Hallie Gennett, completed a steady climb to a state title - the program's first since 2003. They finished 24-1 - the best record in school history, and the most wins in a season in school history.
Second-year head coach Marc Allert, a longtime Trojan boys assistant, became the third coach to win a girls state title at Post Falls - joining Ron Worley (1983) and Chris Johnson (2002, '03).
That means all four 5A IEL teams won state titles during that seven-year stretch - Lake City (2007), Coeur d'Alene (2008, '09, '10), Lewiston (2011, '12) and Post Falls (2013).
And for the fourth time in those seven years, it was an all-5A IEL final.
Impressive in its own way was Coeur d'Alene making the title game for the seventh time in eight years.
Seven state title game appearances in eight years. Just let that sink in a little bit.
This just in - the 5A IEL is pretty good in girls basketball. If they chose the state tourney fields like they did for the NCAA tourney, the 5A IEL would get more bids than they get already.
Funny, some people still roll their eyes these days when you mention girls basketball, but it's kinda neat to see some girls games draw more than boys games around here.
* It was good to see Don Haynes - albeit briefly - following a Lake City boys game late in the season.
I first met Don in the late 1980s, when I was working in Sandpoint and he would bring his Viking team into the old Bulldog Gym. He was back again nearly a decade later, when his son, Tyler, was starting out as Sandpoint High boys coach.
Amazing to think the man won his first state title nearly 50 years ago (in 1964, at Kellogg).
And, if someone asked him to, he could probably guide a team to state next season. And he’s 82 now.
• Post Falls had a lot of good wrestlers to replace from last season, when the Trojans finished second at state. So what did Post Falls do this year? Another solid runner-up finish in 5A. Both years, it took a record team score (by Lewiston in 2012, by Centennial this year) to deny the Trojans a team title.
• It’s always fun to watch the excitement of a team check something off the to-do list — in this case, making it to state for the first time in program history. This year, it was Timberlake’s boys, for the first time since the school opened in 1998.
I like when they announce the all-Intermountain League basketball teams, right before the district title game. All the all-league players — and the coach — line up at midcourt and face the bleachers on one side of the gym, so those fans can snap a photo. Then, they all turn around and face the bleachers on the other side, so those folks can get a shot too.
Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at CdAPressSports.