THE FRONT ROW WITH JASON ELLIOTT: Feb. 15, 2014

To former Post Falls High girls basketball coach Ron Worley, they'll always be 18 years old.

Next Saturday night, they'll become legends.

MEMBERS OF the Post Falls squad that won the 1983 state A-2 title will be honored at halftime of the state 5A title game at the Idaho Center in Nampa as the 13th girls basketball team to be honored as part of the Legends of the Game by the Idaho High School Activities Association.

"It's been really exciting," Worley said. "All of the kids are pretty excited about it. We always felt we had a special season, so being acknowledged that people thought that way too is exciting to us."

Worley guided the Trojans to three straight state tournament appearances, the second culminating with a championship at Reed Gym in Pocatello when Post Falls beat Bonners Ferry 56-54 in overtime.

And they did it by playing just like the boys.

"We brought in a man-to-man defense," Worley said. "At that time, girls basketball was mainly played in a 2-3 zone and presses, and we wanted to do something different, so we coached them up the way you'd coach boys and tried to make them physical. It was a lot of ball pressure and help-side defense. If girls played man-to-man then, that was more like soccer and marking that person and staying with them. We'd get out the blocking pads and do rebounding drills and stuff like that where they'd try to get rebounds and we'd bump them when they try to score - and just get them used to being hit, but still getting to score and getting used to not shying away from contact, so we were a pretty physical team."

Post Falls went 21-4 in that championship season, and also finished as runner-up in 1982 and 1984. Worley retired as coach after that '84 season.

"We were one of the pioneers of that style," Worley said. "The year before, we came out of nowhere, won the district tournament and advanced to state.

"Other coaches were coming up and asking how they could get their girls to play that way," Worley added. "At that time, girls didn't like to be physical like that, and just what we were doing and how we make that work."

Back then, there wasn't an Idaho Center - nor were there six different classifications in the state.

"The championship in that part of the tournament, Sandpoint was in the A-1 championship against a team from Boise and we were playing Bonners Ferry in Pocatello," Worley said. "So the gym was pretty empty. But the game itself, it was the fourth time we'd played Bonners Ferry that year because we played in the same conference (the Intermountain League)."

"My parents had to stay home and were at the boys varsity game watching my brother, Mike, and said everyone was huddled around radios listening to our championship game," said Jamie (Floch) Benner, a sophomore on that Post Falls title team, who now teaches at River City Middle School. "When we finally won, a huge cheer went out and that's how the boys knew the results."

WORLEY SAID all of the players and coaches from that team plan to be on hand for the ceremony. He said that's never happened for any of the previous teams who were honored as Legends of the Game.

"For me, it's like a reunion," Worley said. "I'm really excited to see those kids. I've talked to them on the phone, but in my mind, they're still 18 years old. Dick Woodward, my assistant coach, I haven't seen in almost 20 years."

As an added bonus, the team will all be staying in the same hotel in the Boise area.

"Hopefully we'll be able to get together for a breakfast," Worley said. "Just seeing them and seeing what they're up to (will be nice), and maybe feeling some of that magic again."

"I never thought this would happen to us," Benner said. "But I always knew we were a special team. It started the previous year, and covered a three-year span. Our team was just fun to be around. The welcome home caravan that started at the weigh station and went to the high school was cool too. Everyone we knew came out to meet us and we packed the gym with family and friends."

That magic included a newspaper article on the day of the semifinals, which included a comment from the Preston coach after beating defending state champion Moscow to open the tournament.

"One of our players had a local newspaper at breakfast that had the Preston coach saying it was a shame the title game was the first game," Worley said. "And that got the kids really fired up. We got up on (Preston) by 15 points in the third quarter (in the semifinals) and ended up beating them by nine. It was just as satisfying as the championship game. It was a real special weekend, and I've got a feeling a lot of those feelings will come right back."

"I look forward to seeing some teammates I have not seen in 30 years," Benner said. "This is going to be a reunion of incredible women who made a small North Idaho town proud playing a game they loved. We are old enough now to realize our accomplishments and how we helped change the game."

Kind of like Legends tend to do.

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]. Follow him on Twitter at JEPressSports.