THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Lake City, Cd'A brought the spirit even without the Fish

They canceled the Fight for the Fish game for the second straight year — this time at the last minute — due to COVID-19 concerns.

But kudos to the students at Lake City and Coeur d'Alene high schools for making last Friday's girls and boys basketball games at Coeur d'Alene High look an awful lot like the Fish games of years past.

You walk into the gym moments before the girls game, and the bleachers at floor level on each side were close to being filled — Lake City students on one side, Coeur d'Alene students on the other, both sides standing and making lots of noise, both wearing themed shirts they no doubt planned to wear at the Fish game.

The benches were set up as if it were still a Fish game — Coeur d'Alene on one side of the court, with its students right behind it, Lake City on the other side.

The scorer's table was set up in the bleachers at the end of the court, like in the Fish game, with players from both sides running down to the one end, behind the basket — rather than to halfcourt as they usually do — to check into the game.

The skits through the night were missing, but the spirit was still there. Some of the chants — "Scoreboard!" for one — wouldn't have earned any points with the judges, but they were mostly in good taste.

"Because the Fish game got canceled the last two years we decided just to bring out as much energy as we can, and treat it like it, and bring out as much school spirit as we can," Coeur d'Alene senior guard Skylar Burke said after the Vikings' 60-58 victory over the Timberwolves in the girls game. "So everyone just put in a lot of effort to bring this game alive."

Rather than being a packed gym, it appeared to be roughly three-quarters full — maybe 1,800 fans in a gym with a capacity of some 2,400.

So it was a lot like a Fish game — just without the Fish being awarded at the end of the boys game to the student section judged to have displayed the best spirit.

"Both schools did a good job," said Lake City boys basketball coach Jim Winger, who as also the school's long-time athletic director has spent many years helping plan the event. "And they wanted it, and it was at least close (to a Fish game)."

THE WIN by Coeur d'Alene's girls over Lake City was the Vikings' seventh straight over the Timberwolves, dating back to two seasons ago.

Before that, Lake City had dominated its city rival for several years.

Two years ago, Coeur d'Alene won the regional title on Lake City's home court, then repeated as regional champs last year.

Coeur d'Alene won by 14 at Lake City earlier this season, then had to hang on to win by two at home last Friday.

Though Post Falls may have something to say about it, the Viks and T-Wolves could wind up meeting in the regional title game for a third straight year.

"It’s a battle," third-year Coeur d'Alene head coach Nicole Symons said. "When you play each other so many times … and these two games matter, but they don’t really matter, because now you’ve got districts which is what really matters. I think these games are for trying to figure out what works, and what doesn’t work. It’s just a different environment every game."

Lake City turned to pressure, and was effective driving the ball to the basket, in getting back into last Friday's game.

"Obviously that (pressure) worked," Lake City coach James Anderson said. "With a 7- or 8-player rotation, it’s hard to sustain that type of pressure (for an entire game).

"We are fortunate that we shoot it really well so that gives us a lot of space on the floor," he added. "They do a good job trying to take away our 3-point shots, and force us to make tough 2s. We’ve got to do a better job fighting for our lines, fighting for our spots, and finishing tough 2s."

"They were more aggressive to the rim this game," Symons said. "They’re such a good 3-point shooting team that we were sucked out on them, and they were starting to put the ball on the floor and take it to the rim."

Coeur d'Alene can wrap up the Inland Empire League title, and the No. 1 seed to the 5A Region 1 tournament, with a win tonight at Post Falls.

But in a way, the Vikings have already won. After losing a big senior class from last year, Coeur d'Alene kinda flew under the radar when this season opened.

But the two veterans, Burke and junior forward Madi Symons, have led the way, and the younger players have stepped up.

"We have a great coaching staff, a great crew," Burke said. "We’re just here to grind. Everything works out."

"We weren’t even in the top whatever of the state at the beginning," Nicole Symons said. "It’s OK; I’ll take that any day. It just matters how you’re playing at the end, and building through the season.

"We do a good job of not even worrying about (expectations)," she added. "I don’t talk about where we’re ranked in the state, I don’t talk about what people are saying about us, we just worry about us, worry about our team getting better each game, building chemistry and culture with this young team. It doesn’t matter if you’re No. 1 in the state if you can’t win in the end."

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @CdAPressSports.