THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Seeds, perhaps pooling berths, and maybe an upset coming in girls regionals

Expect the unexpected.

The 5A Region 1 girls basketball tournament tips off Friday, and seldom plays out according to seed.

Especially last year.

Coeur d’Alene was the top seed last year after an unbeaten league season. Lake City was two games back after two losses to the Vikings, and Post Falls was the third seed, losing twice to Cd’A and Lake City.

But Lake City won at Coeur d’Alene in the regional title game, then Post Falls won at Coeur d’Alene in the loser-out game, then won a play-in game to get to state.

Same scenario this year, heading in at least.

“Beating a team three times is hard,” Coeur d’Alene coach Nicole Symons said of Lake City, “and we’ve got to beat them again, and we can’t take them for granted … they are a damn good team, and we have to respect them. It’s going to be a battle, no matter what.”

In the first-round on Friday, top-seeded Coeur d’Alene (19-2) hosts No. 4 Lewiston (6-14), and No. 2 Lake City (17-4) is home vs. No. 3 Post Falls (17-4), setting up a regional title game next Tuesday pitting Lake City at Coeur d’Alene.

JUST LIKE last year.

“We were in this situation last year, so that gives us confidence going forward,” Lake City coach James Anderson said.

Post Falls last year’s upset queen, has lost its four games to Coeur d’Alene and Lake City by an average of 20.2 points.

“People are probably looking at us like those 17 games (won) weren’t as tough as they thought,” said first-year Post Falls coach Brian Hall, whose Trojans started 17-0. “But maybe we can surprise some people.”

Given Post Falls’ last four games, it would indeed be a surprise.

But it happened last year.

And two years ago, Post Falls bumped off Lake City in the loser-out, second-place game, and won a play-in game to get to state.

One thing’s for sure — one to the three teams is not going to state this year. Only the regional champ earns an automatic berth. The second-place team has to win a state play-in game.

In the most recent MaxPreps rankings, which are used to seed the state tournaments, Coeur d’Alene is No. 1, Lake City is No. 3, Post Falls is No. 7.

“It sucks, because we’ve got three teams that deserve to go to state this year up North, and we’re going to get one and a half,” Symons said. “All three of us — Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls and Lake City — all went down (to the Boise area) and killed those teams, and we’re only going to get one bid. That needs to be looked at at the state level, and what we can do to fix that, with so many schools down in Boise … maybe look at the Washington model, and have more playoffs against other teams (from other districts) to see who gets those bids to state. Fight for another day, I guess.”

Idaho allocates state berths mathematically, based on the number of teams in each district.

In Washington, some districts pool their state berths and play off against each other for those state berths. So in theory, in years where one district was way stronger than the other, it would get more teams to state.

“If we’re going to buy into this MaxPreps seeding, and a team like … well it could be us, could be Coeur d’Alene, could be Post Falls … is in the top eight and gets left out because of the way the tournament is up here, maybe give them a chance to play in,” Anderson said. “It would be a way to get the three teams in here that are clearly in the top (of the rankings). Maybe there can be some discussion, and open up some movement.”

IN 4A, Lakeland (10-7) will be the No. 2 seed, and will play host to No. 3 Moscow (5-15) in a loser-out regional tournament game Monday.

That winner will travel to top-seeded Sandpoint (14-5) on Wednesday for Game 1 in a best-of-3 series for the regional title and the region’s lone berth to state.

“I think Sandpoint’s still definitely the team to beat; they’re so consistent and solid,” said first-year Lakeland coach Tyrel Derrick. “But I like the direction our team is headed; we're starting to play our best basketball. I'm really excited for our girls heading forward.”

Sandpoint has won eight of the last nine regional titles; Lakeland won one in 2019, its first regional title since 2009.

The carrot in the 4A Region 1 basketball tournaments — if the lower seed beats the higher seed, it “steals” home-court advantage for the next game.

Sandpoint won both meetings with Lakeland in IEL play. But in the second meeting, at Sandpoint in the Battle for the Paddle spirit game, the game was tied until a foul was called on Lakeland as time expired, and Sandpoint hit the second of two free throws to win the game with :00 on the clock.

“I think they coming away from that game excited to play them again,” Derrick said, “if we get by Moscow.”

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.