Seymour takes wins, losses in stride

There were a couple last strings of the net to be cut Friday night in Hawk Gym in Rathdrum.

And the Lakeland High girls basketball team knew who was just the person to cut them.

“Seymour! Seymour! Seymour! Seymour! ... ” they chanted.

Coach Steve Seymour briefly excused himself from a post-game interview, climbed the ladder and snipped the final two strings of the net, to the cheers of his players.

It had been a long time since Seymour had been on a ladder, at least with a pair of scissors and a net to be cut down.

It had been 10 years since Lakeland’s girls made it to state, and that drought came on the heels of a 10-year stretch where the Hawks made it to state every single year, twice winning the state championship.

“It’s just a team that genuinely likes each other, and pretends to like me on occasion,” Seymour said, post snip, as someone nearby handed out treats. “I get a cookie every now and then ... ”

YOU HAVE to understand, Seymour’s humor is as dry as North Idaho’s winter was — at least prior to this month’s seemingly endless snow. Over the years, when he calls in results of his games to the newspaper, he sounds the same whether his team suffered an excruciating loss, or pulled out a dramatic victory.

On Friday, with his players jumping up and down in joy on their way back to the bench following their breakthrough win, Seymour (and his assistant coaches) calmly came out to greet them on the floor, and quickly shooed away the onrushing students who wanted to celebrate with the players — knowing there was a time for that, and that was after the Hawks went through the handshake line with the Moscow players and coaches.

That reaction was Seymour on the outside.

Inside? Well, that might have been a different story.

“I’m happy for the girls,” Seymour said. “I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was happy for the coaches, and I’m pretty happy myself.”

SEYMOUR, THE dean of North Idaho basketball coaches in his 24th season, took over the Lakeland program in 1995.

The Hawks’ run of state tourney appearances began in 2000, included a state A-2 championship in 2001 and a repeat state title the following season in the renamed 3A division.

Lakeland brought home the third-place trophy from state in 2004, its final year in 3A.

The state trips continued the first five seasons after the Hawks moved up to 4A. Lakeland played in the state semifinals three of those years, but has been unable to bring home a trophy since its last year in 3A.

After Lakeland’s last trip to state in 2009, the two other schools dominated the 4A Inland Empire League. Moscow won four straight Region 1 titles, and Sandpoint won the next five.

This year?

Lakeland won a league game for the first time since the 2011-12 season, and won an outright league title for the first time since the IML in 2003.

“The tables kinda turned a little bit in the IEL,” Seymour explained. “Moscow and Sandpoint graduated their best players, and we had some of the best players we’ve had in years at their peak. Whether it’s (senior guard) Lauryn Cooper playing better than she’s ever played in her career in terms of leadership ... Mel Loutzenhiser (a junior guard) is a year older, and playing better ... ”

AFTER BEING a major player in A-2/3A for several years, and still competitive at the state level in 4A after the move up in classification, Lakeland struggled. In each the last six seasons, the Hawks won no more than five games.

“Is it me?” Seymour wondered. “Are we running the wrong stuff? Have I lost the drive? All of that stuff. You can’t help but second-guess yourself when you go from qualifying 10 years in a row ...

“We could still get to the district championship game on occasion against Sandpoint, but it took smoke and mirrors, and gimmick defenses,” he continued. “Sometimes you could get by the first round, and get one ... I didn’t realize how inept I was as a coach until I started reading your articles (chronicalling how long it had been since Lakeland won this, or accomplished that ... ) ... good God, no wonder some of those parents hated me.”

He’s kidding ... we think. The players, at least, certainly didn’t sound that way.

“He keeps the team together,” Lakeland senior Taylor Elpers said of Seymour. “He keeps us honest, and makes us play as a team — even when we don’t want to sometimes.”

Says Seymour, “They’re just really good kids that work really hard, and they don’t mind us pushing them. And it’s good to go to Boise again.”

THIS YEAR’s state 4A tourney is at Timberline High in Boise, which was also part of the state 4A rotation the last time the Hawks were regulars at state. Lakeland last played at Timberline in the 2008 state tourney.

In 2009, at Mountain View High in Meridian, Lakeland lost 62-55 in overtime in the state semifinals to Bonneville of Idaho Falls, a game that at the time seemed like the state championship game. Bonneville went on to beat Middleton the next day in the title game, and Lakeland lost to Jerome in the third-place game.

Since then? Well ...

Seymour (along with Deana Lange, who has coached in the program for 25 seasons and been his assistant coach/junior varsity coach for all of his 24 seasons) and the Hawks have tried to stay the course, and this year they’ve finally been rewarded.

Indeed, this Hawks team plays together, has several experienced perimeter players that can shoot, handle the ball and play defense. And of course, it helps to have a lanky 6-foot-3 sophomore in the middle like left-hander Katy Ryan, a double-double threat who can control a game on defense even more than on offense.

“I don’t think we deviated much from what we’ve always done,” Seymour said. “We kinda feel like this is our program, this is what we do. And if we don’t end up cutting down nets at the end of it, maybe what we do is still valuable to these kids.”

Still, a couple snips of a net probably felt pretty good, whether he would say so or not.

“It’s nice to have a little validation coming back after doing the same stuff,” Seymour added. “We’ve got kids that work really hard and maybe make a few more baskets, might be a little taller ... ”

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.