THE FRONT ROW WITH JASON ELLIOTT: Wednesday, February 17, 2016
You never know what to expect in your first time doing something in sports.
Playing your first game, you might discover you’re not as good as you thought and that particular sport isn’t quite for you.
Or with a little patience and hard work, you can achieve things that you could only imagine.
FOR A program in its first season sanctioned by the Idaho High School Activities Association, the Genesis Prep Academy Jaguars girls basketball team came up one game short of the state 1A Division II tournament, losing to Lakeside in the championship game of the District 1 tournament last Friday at Andrews Gymnasium in Kellogg.
Genesis Prep had built an early 15-11 lead before freshman post Bella Murekatete, who stands 6-foot-3, picked up her third foul. Lakeside didn’t wait long to get a fourth foul on her, quickly opening things up for its offense to get going.
“It was hard because she had three and Josie (Scribner, a 6-1 freshman post) had three also,” first-year Genesis Prep coach Debbie Holte said. “They’re our two big girls, so when I go to my bench, I get a lot shorter fast.”
Genesis Prep played seven players — all freshmen — in the 47-41 championship game loss on Friday.
“I really don’t have a bench to pull from because we just don’t have that many players to pull from,” said Holte of the decision to not sit Murekatete, who finished with 15 points, 12 rebounds and seven blocked shots. “I thought about it, but it was just a gamble that I thought I could get away with, and we almost did. If I knew what was coming, I might have done something different. But I can’t see in the future, and you’ve got to go with your best instinct.”
GENESIS PREP won six of its final seven games, and then won a coin flip to move up to the second seed of the district tournament after being in position to play in the 4/5 game the previous week.
“They came so far,” said Holte, who was an assistant at Post Falls for two years, including the 2012-13 season when the Trojans won the state 5A title. “At the start of the year, they could barely run an offense. By midseason, they could run almost anything I threw out there at them. They were able to adjust to defenses and the girls got really good and made some adjustments at the time to anybody. They always fought and there wasn’t any giving up. That was the beginning of the year to the end of the season. It really paid off with the effort they wanted to put in and certainly, it’s hard to lose at the end, but we came so far with this group that hadn’t played high school basketball, I’m proud of them.”
Genesis Prep cut the deficit to 42-38 with 1:41 remaining, but was unable to get any closer as Lakeside put the game away at the free-throw line.
They were all freshmen,” Holte said. “So it looks really good for the future. Really happy with what happened this season. We finished at .500 this year, and I’m really proud of the girls. They played great. We went 6-1 in our last seven games, so we finished strong. I’m really proud of them. I think it was a successful season and a great way to enter the state association. I just see a bright future for these kids.”
Lakeside coach Chris Dohrman and junior post Lillian Rhea each were complimentary of the first-year (in the IHSAA) program, especially Murekatete.
“They get into our heads a little bit,” Rhea said. “It’s hard to get anything going with her (Murekatete) in the game.”
“We knew we needed to attack Bella and get her out of the game,” Dohrman said. “She’s a really big presence for them and was a big factor in the game we lost to them.”
And chances are, a big factor in the North Star League race for the near future.
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 jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JEPressSports.