Holiday hoops coming to Cd'A

For a school of 89 students in its combined high school, the Lyle-Wishram Cougars will head to the big city — like plenty of other out-of-town teams — this week to take in part in the Coeur d’Alene Winter Classic high school girls basketball tournament running Monday through Wednesday at Elmer Jordan Court.

Up first for the small school — the host Coeur d’Alene Vikings (4-4) on Monday at 7 p.m.

“We’re pretty excited to come to Coeur d’Alene,” Lyle-Wishram coach Joe Bales said. “It didn’t really matter who we play. We haven’t played any of these teams before. I guess playing the host of the tournament is pretty good. They might not need the home court advantage though.”

The game is the final one on the opening day of the tournament, now in its second year.

Lyle-Wishram lost three games on its schedule after one team dropped its program and another had to add two league games to its schedule.

“There was no real big adjustment,” Bales said. “We’re looking forward to the challenge this week.”

Lyle-Wishram is one of four western Washington teams joining four local teams in the tourney.

Other opening round games at Coeur d’Alene High include Lake City (8-1) vs. Lake Stevens (5-2) at 1:45 p.m., Post Falls (6-4) vs. Bothell (8-0) at 3:30 and Sandpoint (5-7) vs. Enumclaw (5-2) at 5:15.

Lyle-Wishram (4-2) combines students from Lyle and Wishram high schools. Home games are played in Lyle, Wash., located 70 miles east of Vancouver, Wash., near the Columbia River. Lyle-Wishram replaces Mountlake Terrace, which tourney organizers said pulled out about a month ago. Coeur d’Alene High girls basketball coach Dale Poffenroth said he went on the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) website and, as fate would have it, Lyle-Wishrah had posted on the WIAA site that day that it was looking for games.

MaeLynn Luke and Lacy Carse, both guards, are three-year, all-Columbia Gorge League selections.

“They’re both very good guards,” Bales said. “They played well together. Our league has a team (Sunnyside Christian) that has three girls over 6-foot-2, We need the experience of matching up and playing against taller opponents. I’m pretty sure we’ll see a few during our three days in Coeur d’Alene.”

The championship game is scheduled for Wednesday at 3:15 p.m.

LAKE CITY INVITATIONAL: The tournament, now in its fourth year, will be a round robin tournament this year, with teams playing in pre-determined matchups today through Wednesday.

On the opening day, Sandpoint (2-5) faces South Kitsap (2-3) at 2 p.m., followed by Lakeland (3-4) vs. Mountain Home (4-2) in a rematch of the opening round of the 2015 state 4A tournament. The night concludes with Post Falls (5-3) vs. Kentwood (5-2) and the host Lake City Timberwolves (2-3) facing Timberline (3-4) of Boise at 7. Timberline went 0-2 in last year’s state 5A tournament, losing to state runner-up Highland and also to Rocky Mountain.

Mountain Home beat Lakeland 47-32 in last year’s state 4A tournament opening round, and returns most of its roster from last year’s third-place squad. Lakeland’s Andrew Knight is the lone returner with varsity experience. Lakeland coach Dave Stockwell recently passed the 200-win plateau with a 69-41 win at Colville on Dec. 12.

Kentwood High of Covington, Wash., owns wins over Bellevue in nonleague play this season.

COEUR d’ALENE INN-VITATIONAL: After eight years putting on a high school tournament at North Idaho College, it’s the Cardinal men’s basketball team time to get into the mix as they’ll host an eight-team tournament of teams from around the area, Northwest Athletic Conference and San Jose City College, which advanced to the final eight in the California Association last year.

NIC (15-0) opens the tournament on Monday at 7:30 p.m. against Grays Harbor of Aberdeen, Wash. Grays Harbor is 0-7 and allowing 104.5 points per game.

San Jose City College (5-7) will face Fairchild — a club team made up of players from Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane — on Monday at 3:30 p.m. San Jose City College coach Percy Carr has been with the school for 41 years, and with over 800 wins, holds the record for the most wins in California Community College history.

Blue Mountain (7-5) of the Northwest Athletic Conference opens against Miles City (Mont.), which is 6-5. A group of North Idaho All-Stars will face Highline (7-4) of Des Moines, Wash., in the opener at 1:30.

The championship game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday.