A ton of heart and hardware
After the dust settled on the state high school girls basketball tournaments over the weekend at the Ford Idaho Center, it was pretty clear that those teams from the North did a great job representing this area.
Post Falls winning its fifth state championship in program history.
Genesis Prep coming so close to its first title in only its third year sanctioned by the Idaho High School Activities Association.
And then Timberlake, the two-time defending 3A champion, which was up for each and every challenge on the way to a third-place finish.
AS IT happens from time to time, a team runs into someone that just has a better night.
That was Sugar-Salem last Friday against Timberlake at Skyview High in Nampa.
Sure, it was a rematch of the 2017 championship, won by Timberlake 60-57, as well as the 2015 title game, won by Sugar-Salem.
“We play pretty much the same style of basketball,” Sugar-Salem coach Crystal Dayley said of Timberlake following Friday’s game. “We play at a super fast pace, and try to run with the ball. I have so much respect for their program and what they do. We knew we’d play them at some point.”
Timberlake bounced back a few hours later to beat South Fremont in the third-place game, the program’s sixth trophy in seven years. Seniors Lilly Kelley, Shelby Starr and Kaylee Jezek played in championship games in three of their four years on the varsity team.
“They’ve played with a lot of toughness,” Miller said. “A lot of them are really hard-nosed kids. They’re three really good players on the court and all of them had a really good season. This year, we had six different people that led us in scoring — multiple games — and each of them took a turn at it. We’ll lose a lot of experience and still. Those seniors played in three state championship games and really worked hard to get there.”
TIMBERLAKE ALSO started two freshmen, Taryn Soumas and Brooke Jessen, as well as junior McKeeley Tonkin at various times at state.
“We’ve got a good core coming back,” Miller said. “Hopefully they’ll work hard in the offseason. We’ve got a good JV crew coming up that had a great season. I was really happy with their progress. Hopefully we’ll have those kids in the gym working hard.”
Jessen scored 20 of her game-high 23 points in the second half of Saturday’s third-place game.
“We’ve got to put a lot more work in to get through to the championship,” Jessen said. “We’ve got a good group of underclassmen that are ready to come up, and we’ve got to make sure they’re ready for this kind of environment. You’ve just got to keep playing your heart out and stay aggressive.”
Something that wasn’t a doubt for any of those teams from the North.
Win or lose.
Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at (208) 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JECdAPress.