THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE: Thursday, January 21, 2016
After Lake City High’s girls basketball team stumbled a bit in a 49-38 loss at Post Falls two weeks ago in 5A Inland Empire League play, the Timberwolves did a little soul-searching of sorts.
“We really focused on boxing out, playing disciplined, working together as a team,” Lake City junior post Nina Carlson said.
Since then, the Timberwolves have won twice on the road in league play — 48-39 vs. Lewiston and 56-25 vs. Coeur d’Alene.
Against the Vikings in particular, Lake City displayed a deep, well-rounded squad that passed the ball nicely.
That’s not by accident.
“Actually, a lot of us have played together before, so we know how to find each other,” Carlson said. “We actually have the problem of sharing the ball too much; we’re trying to be a little more selfish, attacking the basket.”
Second-place Lake City (14-3, 3-1 5A IEL) gets another shot at league-leading Post Falls (11-6, 3-0) on Friday at 5:30 p.m. at Lake City.
“We didn’t have Bridget (Rieken, a 6-foot freshman post and key sub) for that (first) game; she’s a big spark for us, all over the place,” fourth-year Lake City coach Bryan Kelly said. “We’ll be ready to roll Friday; that’s a big game for us.”
Lake City is trying to make it to state for the first time since 2009, and has been picked by at least one veteran observer as favorites to win the state title. Trying to achieve that lofty status has taken some getting used to. There have been growing pains.
“They work hard, they’re gym rats, they want to do what’s right,” Kelly said. “(Nina) and Lauren (Rewers) and Keara (Simpson) are coming into their own; I think before they were rushing a lot of stuff, now they’re just playing basketball. When those three get rolling, we’re pretty tough to stop down low. And our guards are playing smarter — we’ve got to not foul so much.”
POST FALLS hasn’t been to state since winning the state title in 2013, so this is all new to the Trojans as well.
“I knew having so many sophomores and new kids playing varsity that it would take us a while to understand the intensity and effort it takes to compete at the 5A level,” fifth-year Trojans coach Marc Allert said. “I am not the most patient guy in the world so at times I thought we should be farther along than we were, but we are starting to figure things out. My goal was for us was to be playing our best at the end of the season and I think we are on schedule with that. I thought we lost a couple games that we had a chance to win. But looking back, four of our six losses have come to teams ranked third or higher in their state, so we have played some really good teams that will only help us be better down the road.”
Post Falls did suffer a setback this week when sophomore Glory Ellison, a starting guard, and her family moved out of state, “so we will need some kids to step and take her place,” Allert said.
A win Friday by Post Falls would all but wrap up the No. 1 seed to the 5A Region 1 tournament, which begins in two weeks.
“We are obviously very happy with our place in league right now but there are a lot of key games left to be played. Lake City was the preseason favorite and rightly so. They have good kids at every position, they can play different styles and are very well coached.”
In the first matchup, Post Falls outscored Lake City 23-7 in the fourth quarter to erase a five-point deficit after three quarters.
“We beat them in a game where neither team shot exceptionally well and was probably our best defensive effort all year,” Allert said. “I imagine the next game will be similar because we both know each other pretty well. I think they have a few more weapons than us but our kids gained a lot of confidence from the last game.”
The regional champion advances to state, and the runner-up can also advance by winning a state play-in game. The higher-seeded team hosts each game at regionals; right now, Lewiston (12-5, 1-2) is the third seed, Coeur d’Alene (7-9, 0-4 before Wednesday’s game at Bonners Ferry) the fourth.
“Friday’s game will have a lot to say with who wins the league and the top seed, but in this league anyone can beat anyone so seeds kind of go out the window once regionals begin,” Allert said. “I do know that no one from up here wants to go to Lewiston to play because they are tough to beat at home and you never know what will happen there. I don’t think there is the dominant team in the league like there has been in the past so the next couple weeks could be very interesting.”
LAST YEAR, they moved up the TerHark Cup wrestling match to an afternoon start — shortly after the school day ended — in the hopes more students from Coeur d’Alene and Lake City would attend.
That part worked, and the atmosphere drew praise after Coeur d’Alene’s 39-31 victory.
This year, the annual dual between the city’s 5A wrestling programs is back to an evening start — JV at 5:30 p.m., varsity to follow around 7 at Coeur d’Alene High (both schools earlier listed the match for 6:15).
Why the later start this year?
“Yes we did like it last year,” Coeur d’Alene coach Jeff Moffat said. “But we received a lot of negative feedback from parents and fans that they are not able to get time off for an event right after school. What I would really like to see happen is for wrestling to be part of the Fight for the Fish (a spirit competition weaved around boys and girls basketball games). It would be great.”
COLSON YANKOFF, a sophomore quarterback at Coeur d’Alene High, recently picked up scholarship offers from Idaho and Montana State. Texas Tech offered him last summer. Oregon and Washington State are also among those said to be interested.
Last fall, Yankoff passed for 825 yards and seven touchdowns with two interceptions for the Vikings, while splitting time with senior Austin Lee. Yankoff also rushed for 153 yards and five touchdowns.
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.