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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Chase On For State Berth At Region I Tourney

Greg Lee Staff Writer

Three of the four teams in the A-1 Region I girls basketball tournament would fare well at state.

The problem is, the region receives 1 berths to state. The regional champion advances to state, while the runner-up must win an additional playoff game against the third-place team from District III to earn a state invitation.

The chase for the regional crown begins tonight when Inland Empire League champion and No. 1 seed Lake City (19-1 overall) entertains No. 4 Post Falls (8-13), and No. 2 Lewiston (16-4) plays host to No. 3 Sandpoint (14-5). Both games begin at 7.

One state-caliber team will definitely see its season end this weekend. And Post Falls, considered to have the longest shot of qualifying for state among the four teams, would like to see a second state-caliber team’s season conclude.

Following tonight’s games, the tourney resumes Saturday at Booth Hall in Lewiston. Tonight’s victors meet for the title Saturday at 8. Tonight’s losers meet in a loser-out game preceding the title contest at 6.

The loser of the title game and the winner of the loser-out game will meet Tuesday at 7 p.m. The game will be played at Lewiston - if the Bengals are in the game - or at Coeur d’Alene. The winner advances to a playoff against the No. 3 team from District III (Boise area) the following Saturday for a state berth.

If games go according to seed, the regional title game will be Lake City vs. Lewiston.

The No. 1-ranked Timberwolves would be favored to win in such a showdown based on regular-season results. LC won at Lewiston 71-53 earlier in the season and 74-53 last Saturday at LC.

But Lewiston has two reasons to be confident against LC: 1) It’s difficult for a team to beat another team three times and 2) Lewiston would be playing on its home court.

But such a regional final isn’t a certainty.

Lewiston is favored against Sandpoint, with two league wins over the Bulldogs - 58-57 at Lewiston, 49-39 at Sandpoint.

But Sandpoint knows it can beat Lewiston. It did so last year in a regional opener at Lewiston.

Another reason that could sway the outcome in favor of the Bulldogs is 6-foot-1 junior post Alli Nieman.

Nieman, the league’s most valuable player last year and a likely repeat selection this year, is capable of single-handedly leading the Bulldogs to victory.

A win tonight by LC would give T-Wolf

coach Dave Fealko his 300th career victory; 280 came when he coached at CdA.

Lewiston coach Pat Zink believes his team can beat LC, but he has much respect for the T-Wolves.

“Defensively, (the T-Wolves) break you down,” he said. “(Jennifer) Kerns and (Melissa) Dodge are the standouts, but their role players are more than adequate. Some of those other players would be starters and leading scorers on other teams.”

Boys: League races heat up

Inland Empire League and Intermountain League teams tangle in games this weekend that could go far in determining conference champions.

In the IEL, Post Falls (2-1 in league, 12-2 overall) can move into a first-place tie with Lake City (3-1, 9-5) with a win over visiting Lewiston (1-2, 8-6) on Friday.

A Post Falls victory would provide an interesting atmosphere for the Trojans’ rematch with Lake City on Saturday at Post Falls. Lake City defeated Post Falls 55-47 in a league opener.

In other games, Sandpoint (1-2, 5-10) visits Coeur d’Alene (1-2, 2-12) on Friday, and Lewiston completes its league road games at Coeur d’Alene on Saturday.

In IML action, the league championship or a share thereof is on the line Friday when league leader and No. 1-ranked Bonners Ferry (4-0, 10-2) visits Kellogg (4-1, 11-3). Bonners Ferry beat Kellogg 74-50 in the first league meeting two weeks ago.

In other league games, Moscow (2-2, 6-6) visits Priest River (2-2, 5-8) Friday, while Lakeland (1-3, 3-9) goes to Moscow and Priest River visits St. Maries (0-5, 1-11) Saturday.