THE FRONT ROW WITH JASON ELLIOTT: Saturday, March 26, 2016

If you were to have asked Erin Legel just exactly her basketball career might have went upon graduating from Coeur d’Alene High in 2012, the answer you might have received couldn’t have came close.

A two-time NAIA honorable mention All-American, as well as closing out her career at University of Great Falls with a second-team NAIA All-American selection and first-team pick for the NAIA all-tournament team, that doesn’t even touch it either.

LEGEL RECENTLY wrapped up her senior year at Great Falls, helping the Argos advance to the Elite Eight of the NAIA Tournament last Saturday before losing to the University of Pikeville (Ky.) 75-68 in Independence, Mo.

“We really came together as a team and started to peak at the end of the season,” Legel said. “Which was good for us. Fatigue really got to us in that third game. Our (lack of) depth really got to us in that third game.”

Legel, a 5-foot-5 point guard, walked on at Great Falls, earned a full-ride scholarship after her freshman year, appeared in 128 games and finished with 2,129 points — the most in school history — in either men’s or women’s basketball.

“It’s a great accomplishment,” said Legel of the scoring record. “At the start of the season, it was a goal that I could reach and it was so nice to get it. All the players before me, they were really good. It was awesome.”

All this from someone that wasn’t heavily recruited out of high school.

“I just kind of wanted to get out and play somewhere,” Legel said. “Coach (Bill) Himmelberg told me that I could be the greatest player to come through Great Falls if I came to play there. I really couldn’t have imagined it with all I’ve accomplished.”

LEGEL ALSO finished her senior year ranked sixth in the nation in total points (559) and free throw percentage (.859), and was 17th in 3-point field goals made (75).

“All of my success really goes to Coach Bill,” Legel said. “When I walked onto the team, he really trusted me to do whatever I needed to do on the court. He just let me play the way I felt I needed to. There were times when I should have done something else, and he’d let me know. But for the most part, I had the green light to do whatever I needed to do to help us win.”

In the Argos’ opener at nationals, Legel scored 28 points in a 70-58 win against Central Methodist (Mo.).

“Driving to the basket was working really well for me in that game,” Legel said. “We expected the game to be a lot closer with them having a size advantage. We weren’t scoring with jump shots, so I started driving to the basket and that started to open things up and it worked out well for me.”

Legel scored 17 of her 28 in the second half of the opening round win. The last two seasons marked the first two trips to nationals in program history for the Argos.

In the Frontier Conference, Legel also got the chance to face some former high school teammates in Caelyn Orlandi and Brittany Tackett (Lewis-Clark State) and Sara Chalich (Carroll), going up against Orlandi and Tackett in the Frontier Conference tournament championship game in Lewiston.

“It was good to see some familiar faces and catch up with them,” Legel said. “It really speaks a lot of what (former Coeur d’Alene coach Dale) ‘Poff’ (Poffenroth) instilled in us while we were at Coeur d’Alene. We all know that free throws matter and Goose (Orlandi), Brittany and I had some of the best percentages in the conference.”

Legel led the conference in scoring, with Orlandi finishing sixth at 13.1 points per game and Tackett finishing 14th with 11.7 per game.

Kendalyn Brainard, who played her first two years at Great Falls after graduating from Coeur d’Alene in 2013, did not play this season after suffering a knee injury and opting not to return to the team.

“She ended up having more surgeries on her knee,” Legel said. “She was on the bench for most of the games and tried to be as much of a part of the team as she could, but it hurt to not have her on the court with us. She opted to focus on academics and is doing really well right now.”

As far as playing that game at the LCSC Activities Center in Lewiston, Legel added it felt like home.

“It really wasn’t anything new,” Legel said. “It was just like playing in the Snake River Shootout championship (an AAU tournament), where those games are always played. That gym has always been like a second home to me and I’ve had a lot of great times in that gym.”

As for what’s next for Legel, she’ll graduate from Great Falls with a major in biology and hopes to become a physical therapist.

“I haven’t really figured it all out yet,” Legel said. “I’m going to be back in Coeur d’Alene this summer to work at The Coeur d’Alene Resort. I might try to get back in the Coeur d’Alene program, but I’m not sure where the program is going to go without Poff.”

For Legel, at least after leaving, she went a lot further than she could have imagined.

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.