THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE: Thursday, Dec. 15, 2016

Remember, this is the same program that, a few seasons ago, played six games in six days — three in Coeur d’Alene, three in the Boise area — which entailed traveling following its game on New Year’s Eve to play in the Boise area on New Year’s Day.

So what is adding a game — or two — to another road trip for the Post Falls High boys basketball team?

“Nothing’s off the table,” said Mike McLean, in his 10th season as Trojans’ coach.

POST FALLS was originally scheduled for a two-game swing into southwestern Washington this weekend, playing at Union High of Camas on Friday and at Battle Ground on Saturday.

Then, a team dropped out of a scheduled Border Clash doubleheader at West Valley, leaving Post Falls without a game. The Trojans were able to arrange a game with Scappoose (Ore.) for tonight, making it a three-game road trip.

Post Falls was supposed to play Skyview of Vancouver, and Camas on back-to-back nights last weekend in Richland. But a snowstorm caused Skyview and Camas to cancel out on the trip.

Richland was also slated to play the same schools, so Post Falls traveled down to Richland and played the Bombers on Friday night. Because the other games were canceled too late for Post Falls to cancel its motel rooms, the Trojans stayed in the Tri-Cities that night, and returned home the following day.

McLean arranged to make up the game with Camas by traveling to Camas on Wednesday night — the first stop on what eventually became a four-games-in-four-days road trip.

That is, until bad weather conditions caused the game to be canceled for a second time.

“We’re not afraid of challenges,” McLean said. “We’re always challenging our guys to get better.”

Richland and Post Falls have played each other off and on in recent years, but weren’t scheduled to meet this year.

Until last Friday.

“Their coach (Earl Streufert) and I have a similar philosophy,” McLean said. “He contacted me last spring and talked about bringing two Vancouver schools over. He thought we could both give them two good games. Before the snow hit it was a great idea.”

As it turned out, Post Falls suffered its first loss to Richland, 79-72, as sophomore Cole Northrop hit 7 of 11 3-pointers and scored 43 points for the Bombers, who won 86-81 at 5A Inland Empire League favorite Lewiston a couple of weeks ago.

“We got way more out of this than our first four games combined,” he said.

TIMBERLAKE’S GIRLS basketball team lost its season opener last year by two points at 5A Lewiston, then the Tigers rattled off 23 straight victories and rolled to their first state 3A championship.

Timberlake won its first four games this season before losing by three points at 5A Post Falls, snapping a 27-game winning streak.

Last Saturday, the Tigers lost at Lapwai to drop to 7-2.

Though he’d obviously like to win every game, Timberlake coach Matt Miller could probably care less about the win-loss record. The Tigers intentionally put together a brutal nonleague schedule to test their team, which returns eight players and hopes to return as state champs.

So far, in addition to the Post Falls game, Timberlake has beaten Lewiston in overtime, routed Coeur d’Alene, and won at Washington 4A power Gonzaga Prep. The Tigers have beaten Sandpoint, which placed third at state in 4A last year, by 46 and 34 points.

And Lapwai, the two-time defending state 1A Division I champion, is no slouch either.

Timberlake travels to East Valley on Saturday, before opening Intermountain League play next Tuesday at home vs. Kellogg.

Of bigger concern for the Tigers — they’re not as deep as last year, when Miller could rotate in 12-13 players and pressure the other teams all game, from baseline to baseline.

This year, there’s a core of eight, and two of them are currently out with injuries, and a third played last Saturday, but was slowed by illness.

In a way, that’s helped Miller get some other players more playing time.

“I think its been really beneficial,” Miller said of the tough pre-conference schedule. “Playing in close games, you learn so much more about what you need to work on, and how kids react in certain situations. Anytime you can get close games, I think it’s really beneficial.”

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.