Driven to win

SPIRIT LAKE — The Timberlake Tigers high school girls basketball team is a tight group of talented players.

The defending state 3A and Intermountain League champions are gunning for another title, an opportunity that seems to come with regularity for coach Matt Miller’s teams. They’ve been in the state title game all but once since 2011, finally winning the entire thing in 2016.

So what’s so special about this group?

Well for one, they don’t brag about routing other teams with regularity. Mention beating an opponent by 32 points and they won’t be high-fiving or laughing. A faint smile will occur but nothing more.

These girls are driven as much by their own individual talent and the personal relationships they have as members of a winning team.

They have bonded over the years and have developed a tradition amongst them to eating lunch together every day and translating that to breakfast on Saturday game days.

“We are together on and off the court,” said Keelie Lawler, a 5-foot-8 senior. Lawler is one of four seniors and had a dominating game against Bonners Ferry on senior night with 15 points generated and suffocating defense. She forms a core along with seniors Jacquelyn Mallet, Allison Kirby and Glori Cheevers.

“I think the difference this year versus last year is that we’re more mental,” Lawler said. “We watch more film.”

The close relationships the team shares amongst themselves translates well on the court. The intensity level is focused as each player swarms opponents with a pressing full-court defense — at least until the game is out of reach — forcing turnovers, blocking out under the backboards to get rebounds and anticipating opponent passes that often result in easy layups.

The girls also know where each will be on the floor when running the offense. Crisp passing results in easy in-the-paint buckets or wide-open looks for 3-pointers. Lawler had several against Bonners Ferry.

The girls said coach Miller “gets on them” and “nit picks.”

“Sometimes he gets real extreme and the veins in his head begin to pop out,” said sophomore McKeeley Tonkin, generating a big laugh from her teammates.

Miller said the girls are so talented he has to ride them for something and focuses on what they normally do well and could do a little better. It’s all part of the fundamentals.

“With a team as good as this one, I’ve had to pick at the details to stay sharp to get to the next level,” said Miller, in his 12th season as Timberlake coach. “This is an aggressive and good bunch and they are relentless. I wouldn’t say other teams are intimidated by them but our girls play to a standard and not to a score.”

The girls hustle and once the turnovers start they resemble sharks in a feeding frenzy. Junior Lilly Kelley said the team’s motto is “the moment you give up is the moment you lose.”

“We want the girls to be the first ones on the floor diving for the ball,” Miller said. “They’ve committed to that.”

But it’s been the different leadership that each of the four seniors bring that has made the difference for Miller’s crew.

“Allison and Keelie are our two senior leaders,” Miller said. “When things get tough those two somehow step up. The other two, Glori and Jacquelyn are the emotional leaders. They keep the energy and excitement up. All four lead in their own way. It’s attitude and energy.”

Miller said his team is a little “tighter” than last year’s championship squad and has the potential to be the best or at least as good as his other state title contenders.

“They keep getting after it,” he said.