Kootenai, Wallace lose state openers

The Kootenai and Wallace girls basketball teams will have to work their way through the losers bracket in their quest for a trophy after both lost openers at the Idaho State 1A tournament in Nampa on Wednesday.

Mackay 38, Wallace 32: Brook Nielson scored a game-high 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the floor to lead Mackay’s Miners (17-8) past Wallace’s Miners (6-16) in a game that wasn’t decided until the fourth quarter at Columbia High School.

Taylor Pasley and Myranda Wheeler each scored 10 to lead Wallace, which trailed by one point after three quarters.

Wallace plays a loser-out game against Lapwai today.

Carey 52, Kootenai 43: Jessica Parke had game highs of 23 points and 14 rebounds to power the Panthers (13-8) to a victory over the Warriors (8-13) at Nampa H.S.

Emily Frank paced Kootenai with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Teammate Hannah Nyrop added 11 points and seven boards.

The Warriors take on Cascade in a loser-out game today.

Boys

Jared Bilaski tallied 17 points, seven rebounds, nine steals and three assists to send the Wallace Miners (14-4, 9-0) to a 49-27 victory over the visiting Kootenai Warriors (6-11, 1-7) in North Star League play. … Also in league, Mike Martin tossed in a game-high 21 points and Jared Broggi scored 15 to lead the Clark Fork Wampus Cats (13-4, 7-1) to a 64-16 victory over the visiting Mullan Tigers (3-15, 0-9).