STATE 6A GIRLS BASKETBALL: Eyes on another one ... Under first-year coach Boyd, Vikings enter state on 10-game win streak

By JASON ELLIOTT

Sports writer

COEUR d’ALENE – New year, new team.

Sure, everything looks familiar to that Coeur d’Alene girls basketball team from 2024, which finished the season on a seven-game win streak to capture the program’s second straight state championship.

Coeur d’Alene enters this week's state 6A tournament on a 10-game win streak.

But the path there, that’s been a totally different ride.

The Vikings, under new head coach Stacy Boyd, have placed an emphasis on the defensive end, and from that, the offense will come.

“We’ve just really been focused on getting the job done and getting those stops,” said Coeur d’Alene sophomore guard Brookeslee Colvin. “It’s really a lot of new roles for everyone, so we’ve been learning throughout the season. We’ve had to learn and figure things out and had some other players step up when they needed to.”

Coeur d’Alene graduated three seniors — Maddie Mitchell, Kendall Holecek and Teagan Colvin — from last year's team that beat Lake City 57-49 in the state title game.

Colvin is now playing as a freshman at UNLV.

The only senior on this year’s roster is forward Kelsey Carroll, who has been a part of the previous two championship teams.

“I think both of those teams had something special about them,” Carroll said. “You can’t do anything without each of those players on those teams. Everyone was putting in the work to get better each day.”

Beginning with a 49-38 home win on Jan. 3 over Timberlake — which advanced to the state 4A tournament — the Vikings have not lost, sweeping Post Falls in the best-of-3 district championship series to advance to state for the five time in the last six seasons.

Coeur d’Alene opened the season in November with back-to-back home losses against Boise and Owyhee. Based on MaxPreps rankings, Owyhee is the top seed at state, with Boise second. 

“We started the season tough,” Boyd said. “But I always say, it’s not how you start, but how you finish. Now, we get to go to state. We’re better equipped than earlier this season and we’ll be ready to go.”

Eagle, who beat Coeur d’Alene at Eagle on Dec. 5, is the third seed.

“There were a lot of new things going into the season,” Colvin said. “We did a good job of taking on that challenge and leaning on each other when times got tough. We’re here now and ready for whatever comes next.”

Boyd, a longtime AAU coach in Spokane, was previously an assistant at Shadle Park under Arnold Brown, who took over the boys program at Coeur d’Alene High in January. Boyd was also a boys assistant at Ferris under Sean Mallon before he took over the reins of the Viking program.

“One thing I love about this team is that we’re young,” Boyd said. “We’ve got one senior that’s leaving (Carroll) and we’ve got an opportunity to go to state. When we get there, it’s just one game at a time. We’re excited to get there and excited for the challenge.”

Coeur d’Alene (16-7) will be the fifth seed and open the tournament against fourth-seeded Borah (19-5) of Boise on Thursday at 6 p.m. PST at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa.

Coeur d’Alene last played Borah in 2021.

“We watch film almost every single day, and that’s been the biggest difference since the start of the season," Boyd said. "We’re going to figure out how we can do better and execute both offensively and defensively.”

Colvin, who already has numerous college offers, is averaging 21.9 points per game, with junior Natalie Semprimoznik at 10.4, Carroll at 9.7 and junior Karisa Wallis at 8 points per game.

“The girls have really bought into what we want to do,” Boyd said. “They’re playing well together right now and now, we’re here. We’re excited for whatever is next.”

“We’re just looking forward to having that experience and playing someone new,” Colvin said. “Some of them we played earlier this year. We’re just really looking forward to going out and competing.”

“We’ve all been working hard in practice,” Carroll said. “We just want to accomplish something big for each other.”

    JASON ELLIOTT/Press Coeur d'Alene guards Lexie Wheeler (2), Brookeslee Colvin (11) and Natalie Semprimoznik (5) greet coach Stacy Boyd as they return to the huddle during a timeout in last Tuesday's 6A Region 1 girls basketball tournament game at Post Falls High.