THE FRONT ROW WITH JASON ELLIOTT: March 1, 2014

You've got to hand it to both the Coeur d'Alene and Timberlake high school girls basketball teams.

They finished the year on quite a good run, albeit in different ways.

FOR COEUR d'ALENE, which played its starting five a majority of the tournament, it finished with a ninth state title in school history.

After playing two tough games, the starting five played the entire way in the team's 59-48 win against Rocky Mountain to win the title.

All the running lines, extra laps during practices, paid off.

"They knew at the start of the season, that if they wanted to win it, they had to run and be in shape," Coeur d'Alene coach Dale Poffenroth said. "They just did it. And it was really neat that all those younger kids did it too. Most of them didn't get to play much, but just wanted to be part of that."

For a few of those seniors on the Viking squad, it might have been the final time on a basketball court as well.

"We just had to leave it all out on the court," Coeur d'Alene point guard Sydni Parker said. "For two, maybe three of us, this was the last time we'd play in a game. We needed to leave it out there in the last 32 minutes and do it for ourselves as much as everyone else."

EQUALLY AS big was the run of the Timberlake Tigers over the final month of the season.

Timberlake went 11-2 over the final month of the season, losing only the 3A District 1 title game 43-37 to Priest River and losing 44-34 to Filer in the title game.

That's nothing to be ashamed of.

Having to travel to McCall to qualify for the tournament, not blinking an eye and whipping Kimberly in a play-in game, you could sense that the Tigers were capable of finishing strong.

But a third title game in four years - really?

"Our kids might have believed it, but nobody else would have," Timberlake coach Matt Miller said. "They're a determined bunch of kids and great. I can't say enough good things about them. They buy into everything 100 percent. They might have believed we'd get to the title game. We played well down toward the end of the season. It would have been nice to get the win, but we just didn't get it done."

Timberlake loses three seniors from this year's team.

"We've got a good core coming back," Miller said. "But we'll miss those seniors, not only in the terms of scoring and rebounding, but they're great personalities. They're the type of kids you want in your program. We've got a great group coming back. We'll see how hard they work in the offseason."

THE OFFSEASON will start soon enough.

Hopefully both teams take a little time to enjoy their success.

They've definitely earned it.

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.