THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: NCAA women in Spokane, and a post from the past

Spokane, feel blessed. 

Most of the tickets for this weekend’s NCAA women’s basketball regional tournaments at the nearly sold-out Spokane Arena were purchased long before anyone knew which teams were coming, or even who MIGHT be coming. 

Congrats, fans. 

Enjoy the likes of UConn ... USC ... UCLA ... LSU ... among others. 

UCONN, LONGTIME royalty in women’s college basketball, with 11 national titles in a 23-year span – but none since 2016.  

It’s bizarre to think of the Huskies as an underdog, especially still guided by coach Geno Auriemma, and led by Paige Bueckers, who in 2018 played on a team that won a Hoopfest championship in Spokane. But UConn is “only” a No. 2 seed, despite one of its wins a 29-point shellacking of defending national champ South Carolina in Columbia, S.C.  

USC and UCLA, the pride of the West Coast (especially this season, picking up the mantel with Stanford having an un-Stanford-like season), but also two of the best teams in the country.  

USC fans – heck, pretty much all sports fans – are still bummed over the loss of star guard (and insurance pitchwoman) JuJu Watkins to a torn ACL the other night.  

LSU won the national title two seasons ago, and it’s worth tuning into its games just to see what crazy outfit coach Kim Mulkey is wearing. 

As a fan, as the season unfolded, I was rooting for USC, UCLA and UConn to be three of the four teams in the Final Four. But USC, if it beats Kansas State on Saturday, and UConn, if it prevails over Oklahoma, would meet in Monday’s regional final.  

JuJu’s injury might tip a potential regional title matchup toward the women from Storrs, Conn., but there’s still plenty of talent in Troy, including former Boise High star Avery Howell, a freshman. 

And UCLA, if it beats Ole Miss on Friday, and LSU, if it downs NC State, would meet in Sunday’s regional final. 

Should be a fun six games in four days at the Arena. 

TIP OF the hat to my friend Sam Buffington on this one. 

He messaged me a few days ago, after Drew Fielder, a 6-11 sophomore at Georgetown, entered the transfer portal. 

Who? 

Drew Fielder, of course, played at Rocky Mountain High in Meridian, before finishing his high school career at Southern California Academy. 

While a 6-8 sophomore at Rocky, he had 16 points, eight rebounds and three assists in a first-round game against Lake City at the state 5A boys basketball tournament March 4, 2021 at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa. 

That was the game where Lake City senior Jack Kiesbuy, with his team leading by one point, drilled a 3-pointer from the right baseline with 45 seconds left, and the Timberwolves went on to win 65-57. 

Fielder originally committed to Providence, before de-committing and selecting Georgetown. This season, he averaged 7.1 points and 5.4 rebounds per game for the Hoyas, and started all 31 games. 

Kiesbuy’s brother, Deacon, was a sophomore for Lake City at that time, though he did not see action in that game. 

Deacon was a key member of the undefeated 2023 Timberwolves squad that captured the program’s first state title. 

Deacon Kiesbuy was the fifth member of that class to go on to play in college — four of them in basketball. Kiesbuy redshirted at Treasure Valley Community College in 2023-24, then played in 27 games, starting two, for the Ontario, Ore., school this past season. 

He averaged 6.9 points, shot 38.4% (28 of 73) from 3-point range, with a high of 21 points against Blue Mountain. The Chukars finished 13-15, 8-6 and third in the East Region of the Northwest Athletic Conference, and reached the second round of the NWAC tournament. 

At TVCC, Deacon Kiesbuy was a teammate this past season of former Lakeland Hawk Kenton Ferguson, who saw action in 19 games, starting one, and averaging 3.6 points per game. 

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 1205, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @CdAPressSports.