A-1 Boys Poll Continues To Evolve
Defending A-1 champion Centennial is the latest Idaho boys basketball team to assume the No. 1 spot among the state’s largest schools.
The Patriots rebounded from two early losses to win three games in 10 days - including a 58-34 thrashing of then-No. 1 Capital - to move up two spots in voting by the state’s sportswriters and broadcasters.
Parity appears to have arrived in the A-1 rankings. Centennial was undefeated last season on its way to the state title, but each of the five ranked teams this year already has at least two losses.
Lake City rose two spots to second after easily beating Post Falls and Lakeland. Madison improved from fourth to third, leaving Capital of Boise at fourth. Blackfoot entered the rankings at No. 5.
Undefeated teams hold the top spots in each of the state’s three other divisions.
Bishop Kelly added three victories to remain No. 1 among A-2 schools. Kellogg is second, followed by Bear Lake, Moscow and Middleton.
Girls rankings
In the first polls of 1996, Borah (A-1) and Nampa Christian (A-4) were returned to the top of their respective rankings by the state’s sports journalists.
Borah (17-0), the lone undefeated A-1 team in the state, continues to coast along as postseason nears. Blackfoot moved into second, bumping Highland to third. Sandpoint jumped a spot to fourth and knocked Boise to fifth.
Moscow and Sugar-Salem received 94 points each and are tied in the A-2 ratings. Moscow was given 6 of 10 first-place votes.
Smooth shave
“Get the shavers out” was the pregame message on the board in the Kellogg girls basketball team’s locker room prior to Saturday night’s Intermountain League game with St. Maries.
The young Wildcats made a pact to stop shaving their legs during a 10-game losing skid before the Christmas holidays.
First-year Kellogg coach Mark Holzer provided some extra incentive to turn things around, as the Wildcats opened the New Year with three games in five days.
“I told them if they win all three in a row, I’ll shave my legs too,” Holzer said.
“It got wild,” Holzer said of the celebratory shaving that took place after Kellogg’s 61-55 win over the Lumberjacks.
This ‘n that
Post Falls’ multi-talented guard Heidi Umthun will play with her nose slightly askew after breaking it early in the second half of an Inland Empire League game at Lake City last Friday.
Umthun still managed to score a game-high 32 points and followed the next night with 28 at Lewiston.
She suffered a broken nose last season and played with a plastic brace that limited her peripheral vision. She’s decided to play the rest of the year without a brace and have her nose rebroken and set after the season.
The Lake City-Bonners Ferry girls basketball game, canceled last Saturday because of icy roads, will not be rescheduled.
Centennial girls coach Emery Roy recently recorded his 400th victory.
, DataTimes