Prep girls basketball season gets rolling this week

After a handful of games last week, the local high school girls basketball season tips off in earnest this week.

Several area teams begin on Tuesday night — Post Falls is home vs. Sandpoint, Timberlake travels to Moscow, Kootenai visits St. Maries, Coeur d’Alene Charter plays at Kellogg, and Lakeside faces North Idaho Christian at Holy Family Catholic School in Coeur d’Alene.

Genesis Prep, which debuted last week at the Silver Valley Tournament in Mullan, returns to the Silver Valley tonight to face the Kellogg junior varsity.

Coeur d’Alene gets started on Thursday, traveling to Lakeland.

Lake City is the last of the area teams to tip off, visiting Sandpoint on Friday.

Practice for boys basketball and wrestling teams is underway, with the first boys basketball games scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 1, and the first wrestling matches set for two days later.

On the North Idaho College front, the Cardinal volleyball team travels to Casper, Wyo, this week for the NJCAA tournament. NIC opens play on Thursday as the No. 10 seed, playing No. 7 Missouri State-West Plains. The tourney runs through Saturday.

NIC’s women’s basketball team is home vs. the Whitworth junior varsity tonight. The Cardinal men head to western Washington to face Pierce on Friday and Green River on Saturday.

NIC’s wrestling team hosts the Cardinal Duals on Saturday, then competes in the Spokane Open on Sunday.

In mixed martial arts, King of the Cage returns to The Coeur d’Alene Casino on Thursday, with former NIC national champion wrestler Jamelle Jones listed on the card. Other notables on the card include Joaquin Calderon, another former NIC wrestler; and Gillian Noll, a Coeur d’Alene High senior.