Girls Get Set For Openers In Iel Play

Inland Empire League girls basketball teams tip off conference play tonight and Saturday, and the schedule features some interesting matchups.

In openers tonight, defending State A-1 and IEL champion Lake City (5-3 overall), which appears to be bouncing back after going through a 2-3 stretch, visits upset-minded Post Falls (5-0), while Coeur d’Alene (2-5) travels to Lewiston (2-2).

The first showdown between intracity rivals will be Saturday, when LC entertains CdA. In another game, Sandpoint (4-0) makes its league debut when it visits Lewiston.

All league games are scheduled to begin at 7:30.

Boys games

Coeur d’Alene and Lake City make their annual trips to the Boise area this weekend with dates against defending State A-1 champion Centennial of Meridian.

LC (0-1) will get the first shot at Centennial (1-1) on Friday, while CdA (1-1) will meet the state’s newest A-1 team, Eagle (1-1). Eagle’s students came from Centennial and Meridian. CdA and LC swap foes Saturday.

Standings and schedules for all area teams can be found in the Stat Sheet.

Basketball polls

The first week of regular-season play resulted in a serious shakeup in the Associated Press boys basketball rankings.

Hillcrest, unranked in the preseason poll of sportswriters and broadcasters, stormed to No. 1 among A-1 teams after defeating previously top-ranked and defending champion Centennial and fourth-ranked Eagle.

Capital of Boise entered the poll at No. 2 after beating Madison and Caldwell, and Centennial dropped to third. The Patriots were followed by Lake City despite the Timberwolves’ season-opening loss to West Valley of Millwood, Wash.

In A-2, Kellogg jumped two spots to No. 1 after winning its own Silver Valley Tournament. Preseason favorite Bear Lake slipped to third after splitting a pair of games with out-of-state opponents.

In the girls rankings, Borah remained atop the A-1 poll while Lake City slipped to fifth and Sandpoint moved from fifth to fourth.

Moscow moved up four spots to No. 1 in the A-2 ratings, while previously top-ranked Shelley fell to fourth.

, DataTimes