THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Talkin' Fish, and injuries, and other stuff

Weather permitting, Friday’s Fight for the Fish spirit games pitting Coeur d’Alene at Lake City seem to signify the unofficial beginning of league play for the area’s 5A and 4A basketball teams.

Unofficial, of course, because some teams (particularly the girls) have already played league games.

But the timing — in early January each year — seems to suggest that things are starting to get serious.

BOYS

Lake City has been the team to beat for the last two seasons.

But this year, that “honor” falls on Coeur d’Alene (10-3, 1-0 IEL), so it will be interesting to see how the Vikings perform in the role of favorite down the stretch. 

Lake City lost most of last year’s undefeated title team, but is off to an 8-4 start heading into its league opener.

Post Falls (9-3, 1-0), a regular at state until missing out the past three seasons, has nearly as many wins this year as the Trojans did in the last two seasons combined (10). Post Falls opened league last Friday with a win over Lewiston, but most of the 5A vs. 5A league games have yet to be played.

So it could shape up to be an interesting 5A Region 1 tournament, with 1.5 berths to state up for grabs.

Lakeland’s boys already have league losses to fellow 4A teams Moscow (at home, in double overtime) and Sandpoint. But the Hawks were the third seed to the three-team 4A Region 1 tournament last year, and remember how that turned out, as they beat the other two teams to advance to state.

Entering Thursday, Lakeside had played seven games. But the defending state 1A Division I champion Knights went two weeks between their third and fourth game, and went 16 days between games over the holidays, before suffering their first loss of the season last Saturday, to Bonners Ferry, last year’s state 3A runner-up.

GIRLS

Injuries have been the theme in North Idaho girls hoops, starting with defending state 5A champion Coeur d’Alene.

Senior point guard Teagan Colvin, a UNLV signee and last year’s state 5A Player of the Year, is out with a broken hand. Her freshman sister, Brookeslee, has missed part of the season with an ankle injury.

Aliya Strock, who helped 4A Sandpoint win its first state title in program history last year, is out for the season after suffering a torn ACL at a holiday tournament in eastern Idaho.

And sophomore Malia Miller, who led Timberlake to the state 3A championship game last February, is missing the season following a torn ACL suffered last summer.

That’s four of the top girls basketball players in North Idaho, if not the state.

So Coeur d’Alene (11-3, 2-1) will be shorthanded Friday at Lake City (15-1, 4-0), though senior Madison Mitchell and junior Kelsey Carroll have helped the Vikings pick up the slack in the absence of the Colvin sisters.

Experienced Lake City, meanwhile, has won 10 straight since its lone loss, to Rocky Mountain of Meridian at home on Dec. 1. 

Post Falls (6-9, 3-1) still has the meat of its league schedule left, with two games each remaining vs. Coeur d’Alene and Lake City. In fact, most of the 5A vs. 5A league games remain to be played.

With Strock sidelined last week, Lakeland (5-7, 1-4) had Sandpoint (13-3, 4-1) on the ropes before the Bulldogs scored the game’s last 10 points to win 53-50 at home.

That win, coupled with victories over Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls earlier this season, could be enough to help Sandpoint hang on to the top seed to the upcoming 4A Region 1 tournament.

Then again, as we learned last year in the 4A Region 1 boys tourney, securing a higher seed does not guarantee a berth to state — especially in a cutthroat three-team regional like the 4A one, where Sandpoint and Lakeland are both deserving of a berth to state.

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 X (formerly Twitter) @CdAPressSports.