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THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: The way the ball is bouncing in local high school hoops

| January 30, 2025 1:20 AM

We’re at the point in the high school basketball season where there are few games being played, leaving lots of time to talk about them. 

Especially among the bigger schools. 

After playing 12 games in the first 28 days of its season, the Post Falls boys will play their final five games over a span of 38 days.  

The Trojans’ game vs. Coeur d’Alene last Saturday was their first in 11 days. Post Falls finishes the regular season with three road games — Friday at Lake City, next Tuesday at Lakeland and then 10 days later, at Lewiston. 

Lake City’s boys will not have played for eight days when the T-Wolves take on Post Falls on Friday. Lake City will play its final five regular-season games over a span of 29 days. 

Coeur d’Alene’s boys played their first nine games in a span of 15 days, and will play its remaining 12 over a stretch of 56 days. 


I’M GUESSING few people had the Post Falls boys leading the Inland Empire League heading into the home stretch. 

Probably not the Trojans themselves, either.

But there they are, at 5-0 in league (13-5 overall), bolstered by two wins over Coeur d’Alene and one over Lake City, the other two 6A teams in the IEL. 

A win over Lake City (13-4, 4-1 IEL) on Friday would all but wrap up the No. 1 seed to the 6A District 1 tournament for Post Falls, and a spot in the best-of-3 championship series for the district title and an automatic berth to state. 

That’s big, because the other two teams will have to meet in a loser-out game to begin the district tournament — meaning at least one really good team is going to see its state hopes end on the first night of districts. 

If it’s Lake City vs. Coeur d’Alene, the T-Wolves have the upper hand on the No. 2 seed with their 4-1 league record, and two wins over the Vikings. Coeur d’Alene is 2-4 (8-8 overall) after beating Lewiston on Tuesday. 

After Friday, Lake City has league games at Lewiston on Feb. 6 and at Sandpoint on Feb. 12, along with a home game vs. undefeated Bonners Ferry, last year’s state 3A champ, on Feb. 10. 

Coeur d’Alene is scheduled to play Bonners Ferry at North Idaho College on Friday. The Vikings’ two remaining league games are Feb. 6 at Sandpoint and Feb. 13 at Moscow. 

In any event, whether it’s Coeur d’Alene traveling to Lake City or to Post Falls, that 3 vs. 2 loser-out game figures to be REAL interesting. 


OTHER STUFF: 

• Coeur d’Alene’s girls (14-7, 8-0 IEL) last week wrapped up the top seed and a berth in the best-of-3 6A District 1 championship series. 

Post Falls (6-14, 3-4) and Lake City (7-12, 2-4) will meet in the 2-3 loser-out game next Thursday, and Friday’s matchup at Lake City will go a long way toward determining who hosts that game. It’s Post Falls’ league finale; Lake City is home vs. Moscow on Saturday. 

• The top seed to the four-team 5A Region 1 girls tournament is still to be determined. In a quirk based on how the combined IEL is set up, Sandpoint (10-10, 5-3 IEL) could end up the top seed to regionals over Lakeland (12-5, 4-4), even though Lakeland beat Sandpoint in both league matchups.  

That’s because the 5A teams’ league games vs. the 6A teams in the league count just as much toward regional tournament seeding as the 5A vs. 5A games (and 6A vs. 6A games). 

Sandpoint has two wins over 6A teams (Post Falls and Lake City), while Lakeland lost to those two schools. Also, Lakeland has a league loss to fellow 5A Moscow, a team Sandpoint swept. If Sandpoint beats Lewiston (7-11, 2-5) at home on Tuesday, the Bulldogs will be the top seed to regionals, and host all three games in the best-of-3 championship series — should they win their first-round game vs. the No. 4 seed. Lakeland travels to Lewiston on Friday, needing a win to stay in the hunt for the No. 1 seed. Lewiston and Moscow (9-11, 2-6) are vying for the No. 3 and 4 seeds. 

• Lewiston’s boys (14-2, 3-1) are currently in the No. 1 seed slot for the 5A Region 1 tournament, and has wins over Sandpoint (6-8, 2-2), Lakeland (8-8, 2-4) and Moscow (6-10, 0-6), the other three 5A teams in the combined league.  

Still, the region appears up for grabs. Lakeland had Lewiston on the ropes at home last week before the Bengals rallied. And Sandpoint has a home game with Lewiston remaining. 

• In the girls Scenic Idaho Conference, Genesis Prep and Wallace ended up tied for second at 3-3, splitting their two meetings. The tiebreaker is MaxPreps rankings, and Genesis Prep is currently ranked ahead of Wallace. That means Genesis Prep would be the No. 2 seed, and host Wallace in the first round of the 2A District 1 tournament next Tuesday. 


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.