THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE, Jan. 22, 2015
After losing at home by 13 points to Post Falls on Jan. 8, the Lake City High girls basketball team had to be wondering a little bit which direction its season was heading.
But after losing by just 12 points to second-ranked Lewiston last Tuesday, followed by a 26-point blowout of Coeur d'Alene last Friday in the Fight for the Fish game, the optimism has returned to Lake City.
"I told them, if you bring that energy and play like that, we can be pretty dangerous," Lake City coach Bryan Kelly said. "We just have to keep working hard. We have to take that energy from this (Coeur d'Alene) game and take it into practice and into next week.
"Against Post Falls, I didn't think the energy was there; we didn't play very hard," Kelly added.
HEADING INTO the final two weeks of league play, Lake City (14-4, 2-2 5A Inland Empire League) is in third place, trailing Lewiston (16-1, 3-0) and Post Falls (13-4, 2-1), and ahead of Coeur d'Alene (9-8, 0-4).
Lake City travels to Post Falls on Friday, and wraps up league play next Saturday at Lewiston.
Post Falls visits Lewiston on Saturday, and plays host to Coeur d'Alene next Thursday.
Coeur d'Alene hosts Lewiston on Friday.
Lewiston won by 19 points at Post Falls in December.
The 5A Region 1 tournament begins Feb. 6, with the No. 1 seed hosting the No. 4 seed, and the No. 2 seed hosting the No. 3 seed. The regional champion advances to state Feb. 19-21 at the Idaho Center in Nampa. The runner-up can make it to state by beating the fifth-place team from District 3 in a play-in game at Grangeville.
BARRING AN upset, Lewiston is the prohibitive favorite to win the regional, leaving Lake City and Post Falls to likely fight for the No. 2 seed, and Coeur d'Alene looking to spring a surprise along the way.
"They battled Post Falls," Kelly said of Coeur d'Alene, which lost by just eight at home to the Trojans last Tuesday. "And in the district tournament, they're going to be right there, because 'Poff' (Viking coach Dale Poffenroth) will get them to play hard, and do their system."
It's hard to get used to thinking of Coeur d'Alene as an underdog, coming off 10 straight trips to state, including four state titles and four runner-up finishes. But with no returning starter, and only a few returning players, the Vikings are young this year.
Kelly has been there, and is trying to take advantage of having a little more experience this year.
"The league, I keep telling the girls, it still comes down to a two- or three-game season, to where we want to go," he said. "Our goal is to be playing in Nampa, so we've got to keep taking care of business, and take care of each hurdle as it comes."
* The Ron Terhark Cup, the annual wrestling dual between city rivals Coeur d'Alene and Lake City, has been dominated by Coeur d'Alene for more than a decade.
The Vikings have won the last 12 meetings, and few of them have been close. Coeur d'Alene pitched a 71-0 shutout in 2009.
But Lake City's 38-37 victory over Coeur d'Alene at the recent River City Duals in Post Falls has given the Timberwolves hope. It was Lake City's first win over the Vikings since 2002.
This year's Terhark Cup is scheduled for next Wednesday at Lake City High.
"When we beat them at the River City Duals, it was a huge deal," said Corey Owen, in his seventh season as Lake City coach. "Our kids haven't had that experience of beating them. They're excited; I'm excited, and I hope we put our best foot forward."
Coeur d'Alene is 13-6 vs. Lake City in Terhark Cup matches. Starting in 1996, Lake City won six of the first seven.
* The Post Falls High wrestling team is ranked 44th in the latest Fab 50 rankings by InterMat.com
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@CdAPressSports.