Bound To Be Iel Team In State Final
They’ve played three times already, and a fourth matchup between the Lake City and Sandpoint girls basketball teams could occur this week.
But for the ideal showdown to happen, both teams would have to advance to the State A-1 championship game.
The team with the best chance, based on seeding, is the defending champion, Lake City.
The state tourney begins a three-day run today at College of Southern Idaho here.
Lake City (13-7 overall) opens against Nampa (15-9) at 2:15 p.m. PST. Sandpoint (18-3) takes on Blackfoot (22-3) at 7 p.m.
In other games, Highland (22-1) battles Centennial (18-5) in a contest featuring traditional qualifiers and heavily favored Borah (23-0) meets Pocatello (19-7).
In the A-2 tournament at Wendell High School, the favorites are loaded in the same half of the bracket.
That bracket includes Moscow (20-1), which captured three straight state crowns before settling for consolation honors last year.
Moscow will meet defending champion Shelley (19-7) at 5:30 while Bonners Ferry (15-7), which finds itself in the weakest half of the bracket, takes on Jerome (16-6) in the tournament’s first game at 12:45.
In the other opener in Moscow’s bracket, Sugar-Salem (21-1), also a favorite to win the title, draws Bishop Kelly (19-4). Preston (17-5) and Middleton (19-4) meet in the other game.
A-1
This is no rookie team that first-year LC coach Dave Stockwell takes to state - although the Timberwolves start three sophomores and a junior.
And Stockwell’s no rookie either.
T-Wolves starter Natalie Telford and top reserves Laura Tolzmann and Kristi Jacobson are making their third straight trips to state - they were members of Coeur d’Alene High’s 25-0 title team two years ago - and junior point guard Katie Hatrock and sophomore wing Lindsay Herbert made key contributions off the bench last season.
For Stockwell, this is his 10th straight trip to state - the previous nine as an assistant at CdA and LC.
“I feel every team we’ve taken to state has had a chance to win it, and we’ve had a team or two win it that’s had no business winning state,” Stockwell said.”
LC will face a complete opposite in Nampa. While the Timberwolves will try to get out and push tempo, the Bulldogs take a deliberate approach.
“From what I understand, they’re similar to a lot of teams we’ve faced in the past at state,” Stockwell said. “Not a lot of teams like to get out and play the whole court like we do.”
Balance has carried LC. Herbert averages a team-leading 12 points per game while five other players average between 4.4 and 10.7 ppg.
Hatrock, who suffered a sprained ankle in LC’s regional-title win over Sandpoint last week, is expected to start.
LC played Borah, which last won a state title in 1979, early in the season, suffering a 64-54 loss at Boise.
Capital coach Grant Joki, whose team fell 58-54 to Sandpoint in a playoff for a state berth Saturday, thinks Borah will be difficult to beat.
“They’re even better now than earlier in the year,” Joki said.
Except for LC’s late-season debacle at Lewiston (a 60-36 loss), Stockwell said his team has improved gradually.
So what’s Stockwell’s gut feeling headed to state?
“If we win our first game we’ve got a pretty good shot at (winning state),” he said. “We haven’t played our best basketball yet. If we put three good games together, we can play with anybody.”
Sandpoint is making its second trip to state in three years. Two years ago, the Bulldogs defeated Blackfoot in the state consolation game.
Two key players for both teams started in the state game two years ago - Sandpoint’s Alli Nieman and Blackfoot’s Stefnay Layton.
The 6-foot-1 Nieman is easily the top player in the state, averaging 27.7 ppg. Layton is considered an all-state-level player and can be potent from 3-point range.
Bulldogs wing Tanya Allmaras will be assigned the task of keeping Layton in check.
As Nieman’s stellar career draws to a close, the University of Idaho-bound player is setting several school records.
Nieman will go over 600 points for the season at state (582, her previous best 547), and her scoring average already eclipses her old mark (22.9). Nieman could finish with career records better than the boys school records for the same statistics.
Gary Elliot set the season-points (626) and one-year average (25.0) marks in 1965-66.
First-year Sandpoint coach Duane Ward isn’t new to state - although it’s been a while since he’s been there. His last trip was in 1971 as the boys coach.
Ward’s focus is clearly on the first game. He’s not even thinking about a possible semifinal showdown with Borah.
“What comes after the first game doesn’t make any difference if you don’t win the first game,” Ward said. “I think we’re capable of (winning it).
“It’s a business trip for us. At the same time, what you get from here on out is gravy.”
It appears Sandpoint is approaching it as a business trip in more ways than one. The Bulldogs took a plane Wednesday afternoon to Boise and then chartered a bus for a 2-hour drive to Twin Falls.
A-2
The Bears have a score to settle with Shelley. Moscow opened against Shelley last year, losing a 42-41 heartbreaker to the eventual state champion.
“We have a pretty tough half of the bracket again,” said Moscow coach Sally Greene, whose team has won 20 straight since a season-opening loss to LC. “We can’t dwell on that. You have to go down and play the good teams anyway. I kind of have the feeling last year was (Shelley’s year) and maybe this is our year.”
The “real” state title game could be featured in a potential semifinal final pitting Moscow and Sugar-Salem.
“I’m a little concerned about our lack of competition, especially the second half of the season,” Greene said. “I think this year there’s a lot of parity at state. There are possibly six teams that can go down there and win.”
Bonners Ferry isn’t one of the favorites. The young Badgers barely survived district.
But coach Jim Nash believes his team will play much more loose at state. A veteran Bonners Ferry team advanced to the title game last year and gave Shelley all it could handle.
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