THE FRONT ROW WITH BRUCE BOURQUIN: Friday, January 15, 2016

Someday within the next decade or so, Kelsey Auer could be diagnosing illnesses and prescribing medications while taking care of your child.

But for now, as a 16-year-old junior at St. Maries High and three-sport athlete born and raised in St. Maries, she is working on taking care of business, both on the courts and fields of play and in the classroom.

“I want to study to be a pediatrician,” Auer said. “I always liked helping people out and I like helping children. This semester, I’ll take fundamentals of health and medical terminology. One is a 6 a.m. class that’s more hands-on, the other is an online class. Next year, I’ll be a certified CNA (Certified Nurse Assistant).”

Auer, who carries a 3.9 grade-point average and is academically among the top six in her class, will also volunteer at a nursing home in St. Maries this year, working 30 to 40 hours taking care of the elderly.

“You always have to check on people, get their meals on time, do room checks,” Auer said.

Wherever Auer attends college — she wants to stay fairly close to home while going to college somewhere in the Northwest — she’d like to play college basketball.

This past fall, as a 5-foot-11 setter, she was named the Central Idaho League’s MVP. In softball, she also played as a shortstop batting third or fourth, and also pitched.

“I wouldn’t mind if I end up playing at a four-year school or a community college,” Auer said. “Basketball is my favorite sport.”

ST. MARIES has not reached the state girls basketball tournament since 2002 and of course, Kelsey wants to help end that streak while playing her favorite sport. This season, the Lumberjacks are 10-1 (2-0 CIL) and ranked second in 2A in this week’s state media poll going into Saturday’s game at 1:30 p.m. at Grangeville. Last season, St. Maries lost in a state 2A play-in game to Marsing, 48-41, and finished 10-13.

“I think we all want it more than anything,” Auer said. “We realize we can go places. Grangeville is always tough, in the past two years that I’ve been here, we haven’t beaten them. Last year we were pretty close, we’d be within five or 10 points behind them. Our fans seem to like the boys team, there are more fans at their games. Making it to state, I think it’d show them (our fans) we are improving and we can do something.”

Playing with “little” sister Kaylee Auer — who at 6-1 gets to physically look down at her older sister — has been great for both girls. Kelsey has averaged 11.5 points and 9.7 rebounds per game for this season’s St. Maries team, while Kaylee averages 5.5 points and 6.6 rebounds per game.

Both girls are often involved in the high-low attack, where either player looks to get a quick basket in either the low post, or higher up toward the free-throw line.

“It’s fun and we’re really competitive,” Kelsey Auer said. “We’ll see who scored more points or grabbed more rebounds. I have an advantage because I’m older. I think we play well together. Sometimes during practice, we’ll argue a little, but during games, we click together.”

Personality traits are a bit different at times between the sisters.

“I feel she’s kind of more goofy,” Kelsey said of Kaylee. “She’ll learn more post moves and she’ll be more embarrassed, she doesn’t feel like she’s doing anything right. I get to the point, I try to learn the moves right away. I get mad at myself more often.”

Kelsey’s older sister Kerstin Auer, who graduated from St. Maries in 2014, played basketball and volleyball with Kelsey when she was a freshman. Kerstin Auer recently earned her certificate in phlebotomy after attending a few classes at Lewis-Clark State College.

“I looked up to her friends and her,” Kelsey said. “I wanted to be like them. It was fun being able to play with her.”

The Auers’ father, Jim, loads tree logs for Danielson Logging in St. Maries, while their mother, Brandy, works at a mill in St. Maries for Potlatch Corp.

IN VOLLEYBALL, Kelsey Auer was a versatile setter, getting quick passes for fast points and leaping up to rack up a few blocks. The Lumberjacks finished fourth in state last fall.

“We always do trick plays,” Auer said. “We’ll hit the ball deep when they (opponents) were short back there, when they’d crowd girls at the net. Playing at state was some of our most fun matches. We went all out, there were no slumps like during parts of the regular season.”

The softball team lost a state 2A play-in game against McCall-Donnelly and finished 13-7, with Kelsey making it to the all-CIL team. During Kelsey’s freshman year, the Lumberjacks reached the state tournament but went 0-2 and finished 13-3.

“I like hitting more,” Auer said. “I hit one out (for a home run) during a summer league in Spokane. I feel like I can hit more (than pitch). We have a lot of good pitchers.”

There are a lot of good talents Kelsey Auer has displayed all over the place for St. Maries.

Bruce Bourquin is a sports writer at The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2013, via e-mail at [email protected] or via Twitter @bourq25