Wallace, Kootenai chase gold
A year ago, Wallace High girls basketball coach Kirby Krulitz thought his team had the ingredients to play for a state championship.
Turns out Krulitz was right.
A year later, Krulitz isn’t predicting the same finish. But he thinks his Miners have enough talent to be playing for something come Saturday.
“We’ve got a run in us of some kind at state,” Krulitz said. “I still feel we can play for a trophy of some kind.”
The State 1A tournament begins a four-day run Wednesday at two high schools in Nampa. District I champ Wallace (12-10) takes on District IV fourth-place finisher Shoshone (16-8) at 5:15 p.m. PST at Nampa High School.
North Star League champ Kootenai is making its eighth straight trip to state and 10th in the last 11 seasons. Coach Doug Napierela expects the Warriors to capture their first state trophy since 2004 when they claimed the consolation (fifth place) title.
“This team is as good, if not better, than the one that won the consolation title,” Napierela said. “We’re taking down a load of experience and athletic ability.”
Kootenai (18-3) will open against North Gem (14-7), the same team the Warriors played in a state opener last year. The game begins at 2 p.m. at newly opened Columbia High School.
As recent as a month ago, Wallace was struggling to find itself. The Miners were 6-9 and had suffered through illness, injury, a returning starter quitting and the graduation of two key role players they couldn’t replace.
Wallace finished the regular season strong, winning four of its final five games. The turnaround was capped when the Miners knocked off Kootenai 53-43 in the district title game Friday.
The trio that was in the middle of Wallace’s run at state last year has carried the offensive load on a team that lacks depth. Senior point guard Cara Hayman, a four-year starter; senior wing/post Lisa Carver, a three-year starter; and senior post Krista Williams, also a three-year starter, have averaged a combined 44.1 points. Carver has led the way with 16.3 points per game, followed by Hayman at 16.1 and Williams at 11.7.
Carver missed four games over a month during the Christmas holidays with a severely sprained ankle. Hayman sat out two games with a whiplash-like neck injury. And Williams battled illness in all but two games. Krulitz said it took Williams most of the season to build enough stamina to play a full game without stops for rest.
“In all fairness, our record would have been a lot better without all the things we went through,” said Krulitz, whose Miners were 24-2 last year. “Teams that knew what we had coming back are probably wondering what happened and how we lost 10 ball games.”
The smiles that were seemingly permanent on the Miners’ faces a year ago returned following the district final.
“We finally came out and played like we did last year,” Hayman said. “It was the best we’ve played all year. Lisa was out and then I was out and Krista’s been sick. Now we have everyone back and it’s all in one piece. If we keep playing like this we’ll do well at state.”
Carver agreed.
“It’s a little different team, but we definitely have as much talent as last year,” Carver said. “If we play up to our abilities we should go pretty far.”
Kootenai gets a chance at redemption in its opener. The Warriors shot poorly – 16 of 56 overall from the field, 0 of 11 from 3-point range and 1 of 9 free throws – in a 42-33 loss to North Gem last year.
“We felt we should have beaten them last year,” Napierela said Sunday just before watching video of that game.
All of Kootenai’s starters played significant minutes in the state opener last year.
“They know exactly what to expect,” Napierela said. “They know what the atmosphere and pressure will be like. If we play solid and sound this is a group that can bring something home. They know how well they’ll have to play to get to (a trophy game) Saturday.”