A look at area teams as season begins

Several area high school girls basketball teams begin their seasons tonight.

Post Falls travels to Sandpoint (0-1), Lakeland plays at Timberlake (1-0), and St. Maries visits Kootenai, all at 7. Coeur d’Alene Charter plays at Mullan (0-2), and Lakeside faces North Idaho Christian at Holy Family Catholic School, both at 6.

Lake City opens Thursday at home vs. Sandpoint.

Genesis Prep opens Nov. 29 at the Coeur d’Alene junior varsity.

Coeur d’Alene is the last local team to open its season, Dec. 1 at home vs. Shadle Park.

Here are brief looks at each of the 10 area teams. There will be more in The Press’ winter sports special section, coming up soon.

5A

Coeur d’Alene: Scott Stockwell, the former Post Falls High basketball star, takes over as head coach for Dale Poffenroth, who retired after 12 seasons as Vikings coach.

Stockwell spent the past five seasons as an assistant under his dad, Dave, the Lakeland High boys basketball coach.

Among the returnees from last year’s 8-15 squad are sophomore post Kelly Horning, the 5A Inland Empire League Newcomer of the Year.

Three seniors with experience are back — point guard Kayla Fagan, guard Taryn Horvath and forward Isabella Hollibaugh.

“It’s a lot of raw talent,” Stockwell said. “In the past they’ve been taught to play in a system like robots. I’m getting them to play basketball, and decide what the defense gives them. They’re all buying in.”

Lake City: The Timberwolves return four starters from last year’s 21-5 squad that brought home the consolation title from state in its first trip since 2009.

Two of them have signed with Division I schools — guard/post Nina Carlson (Idaho) and post Lauren Rewers (Hawaii).

Junior forward/post Keara Simpson and sophomore guard Bridget Rieken are the other returning starters.

Carlson, Rewers and Rieken are returning all-5A Inland Empire League players.

“Keara, at times, was our best player,” said Bryan Kelly, in his fifth year as Timberwolves coach, and the league’s coach of the year last year. “We’ve got some weapons; we’ve just got to put it all together.”

All four can play inside, but Carlson will play shooting guard, Kelly said, and Rieken, who has verballed to play soccer at Washington State, will also play guard.

“I think teams are going to speed us up because of our size,” Kelly said.

Post Falls: The Trojans, who finished 14-11 last season after losing in a state play-in game, return three starters, led by junior post Melody Kempton, a Gonzaga commit and the Player of the Year in the 5A IEL last year.

Junior point guard Bayley Brennan and junior forward Sydney Parks are the other returning starters.

Among the newcomers are a pair of freshmen twins, guards Tyler McCliment-Call and Jacksen McCliment-Call.

“We should be fairly athletic, and pretty quick,” said Marc Allert, beginning his sixth season as Trojans coach. “We have better shooters that will be able to take the pressure off Melody inside. Last year people just surrounded her, and made it difficult for her to score.”

Brennan, like Kempton, is a three-year starter and was all-league last year.

“She just gets smarter, and understands the game better each year,” Allert said of Brennan. “She does a good job just getting kids in the right spots.”

4A

Lakeland: Senior guard Tauna Kirk is a returning all-4A Inland Empire League selection for the Hawks, 4-17 last season.

Senior guard Brittany Charles and senior post Dani Dowd also saw quite a bit of playing time last year for Lakeland.

Among the newcomers are junior guard/post Sofi Schnepf and sophomore guard Lauren Cooper.

“We have good team quickness,” said Steve Seymour, beginning his 22nd season as Lakeland coach. “I made a mistake when I said that in the past, hoping it would be so. But I don’t think I’m kidding myself this year. We have the ability to get from Point A to Point B quickly. And this team seems interested in playing defense.”

3A

Coeur d’Alene Charter: The Panthers, who move up from 2A this season, return three starters from last year’s 5-18 squad.

Senior guard Mae Alexander was a first-team all-Central Idaho League selection last year. Senior guard Kelly Ruebke and sophomore forward Emma Bartlett are also returning starters.

Doug Grant, in his fifth season as Charter coach, said Sandy Faulkner, a 6-foot-1 freshman post, should be able to help the Panthers transition to the Intermountain League.

“We worked hard in the summer,” said Grant, the Coach of the Year in the CIL last year. “We played 18 games, and that was about 16 more than we usually play. The difference (in the 2A and 3A levels) is just the strength inside. There was one team like that (in 2A), now it’s going to be four teams like that.”

Timberlake: The good news for opponents — the Tigers won’t be as deep, won’t send in platoons of reinforcements in there to keep up the pressure, using as many as 12-13 girls.

The bad news for foes — Timberlake is still really good anyway.

The Tigers return eight players from last year’s 23-1 team that won the first state title in program history, including a pair of first-team all-Idaho selections in point guard Allison Kirby and forward Keelie Lawler.

Also back are senior forwards Jacquelyn Mallet and Glori Cheevers, junior guards Lilly Kelley and Shelby Starr, junior post Kayle Jezek, and sophomore guard McKeely Tonkin.

“We won’t be able to platoon, but we’ll still play fast and aggressive — probably not quite as fast,” said Matt Miller, in his 12th year as Timberlake coach. “Last year, getting a quick shot was almost more important than getting a good shot.”

Timberlake’s first title last year came on its fifth trip to the state title game in six years.

Before he moved on to his new job in a similar role at Lakeland, former Timberlake athletic director Tim Cronnelly left Miller with a killer nonleague schedule this season — including a clash at Washington 4A power Gonzaga Prep. The Tigers are also slated to play 5A Lewiston, Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls, meet 4A schools Sandpoint and Moscow twice each, and also play defending state 1A Division I champion Lapwai twice.

“We usually have a tough nonleague schedule,” Miller said. “This one is way tougher than we’ve had in the past.”

2A

St. Maries: The Lumberjacks return three all-league players from an 18-4 squad that shared the Central Idaho League title, and eventually lost in a state play-in game.

Senior post Kelsey Auer, a four-year starter who averaged 11 points and 11 rebounds last year, made the first team.

Junior posts Kaylee Auer and Devyn Wilson each were named to the second team.

All told, seven players return, all of which started at one time or another last season.

“We’ve been close (to state) the last couple of years,” said Jay Sines, in his seventh season as Lumberjacks coach. “We only lost four games last year, and all but one of the games we lost were within a few points.”

1A Division II

Genesis Prep: The Jaguars came within one game of qualifying for state last year in their first season as an Idaho High School Activities Association-sanctioned program.

And most of their key players return from that 11-11 squad, including sophomore post Bella Murakatete and sophomore point guard Rachel Schroeder.

Also back are two more returning starters, guard Trinity Morrow and forward/post Josie Scribner. All are sophomores.

Last year’s roster consisted of one sophomore and the rest were freshmen, so every bit of experience the Jaguars gained last year was huge.

“We were basically thrown into a varsity league with a bunch of freshman,” second-year Genesis Prep coach Debbie Holte said. “And by the end of the year, we were a pretty good varsity team. I think that experience is going to be huge.”

One of last year’s freshman starters, guard Shaye Schreibeis, is now being home-schooled, and because of that, she has to play at the public school in the district where she lives, which would be Post Falls High.

Kootenai: Doug Napierala is back for his second stint as Warriors coach, after guiding the Kootenai girls for nine seasons (1998-2007).

He succeeds Mike LaFountaine, who succeeded Napierala as coach, and guided the Warriors the past nine seasons.

Napierala, the longtime football coach and athletic director at the school, will have three returning starters — junior post Kaili Gentry, a returning all-North Star League player, senior guard Michaela LaFountaine and senior post Paxton Dotson.

Freshman guard Kennedy LaFountaine, Michaela’s sister, joins the mix.

Another potential returnee, senior Brook Larson, suffered a knee injury just before the state volleyball tournament. She might be able to return in January, Napierala said.

“We’re just not going to be very deep,” Napierala said. “We’re not going to be in a position to run people off the court. We have to make the most of our offensive possessions, and play solid defense.”

Lakeside: The Knights return seven players from last year’s 17-6 squad that brought home the consolation title from state.

Senior post Lillian Rhea and senior guard Rachael Arthur are returning starters. Senior posts Sarah Daman and Tea’ Lambert, senior guard Corin Peone, and sophomore guards Olivia Palmer and Alyssa SiJohn also saw ample playing time last year.

Adding depth are a pair of sophomore twins, Suzzana Pakootas and Tommia Pakootas. Lakeside also has 11 freshmen in the program.

Last year was the second straight season Lakeside went to state, and won the consolation title.

“One thing I’ve really noticed (from going to state) is just getting the opportunity to play extra games, and get a few more practices,” said Chris Dohrman, in his third season as Lakeside girls coach. “We’ve got quite a bit of experience, and I think we have girls that can step in right away.”