Inexperienced teams still eager

The Intermountain League is sending two inexperienced girls basketball teams to the State 3A tournament.

That’s not necessarily bad news for District I champ Priest River or runner-up Kellogg. IML state qualifiers have made it a habit of playing for state trophies in recent years.

While the best may be a year away for Priest River and Kellogg, it wouldn’t surprise their coaches if they make some noise in Boise.

“We definitely have a shot at doing well,” Priest River coach Jamie Pancho said. “We played well against Bonners Ferry and Kellogg at district and those teams are as good as any team in the state tournament. You don’t get there by accident.”

A quirk of the seeding has the IML entrants on the same side of the bracket. They play in the opening games of the tournament, which tips off today at Bishop Kelly High School. Priest River (13-9) takes on play-in qualifier American Falls (20-4) at 12:15 (PST), followed by Kellogg (14-10), also a play-in qualifier, meeting District VI champ South Fremont (15-8) at 2.

Priest River is making its fifth trip to state under Pancho and sixth in the last nine years. The Spartans played for third place last year under Marty Landry, who took over for Pancho after he took a job at West Valley. But Landry resigned after the season and Pancho decided to return.

Kellogg heads to state as perhaps the field’s Cinderella entrant. It’s the first trip to state for the Wildcats since 1990-91.

“It’s been a magical year for us,” said first-year coach Steve Bourgard, who took over for Lisa Cheney. Cheney, who resigned to spend more time with a young family, played on the last Kellogg team to qualify for state.

“I have a lot of respect for her,” Bourgard said. “I feel God blessed me with this opportunity. I came into a good situation. I feel a sense of pride for our community and (Cheney). I told her she did a great job when I took over. She had it for five years and she handed it over to me. It’d be like selling your car. You wouldn’t want to see it get trashed in a year.”

Bourgard got the young Wildcats to buy into playing defense. After Priest River handled IML champion and top seed Bonners Ferry 65-43, Kellogg eliminated the Badgers 48-43 to advance to a play-in game against Weiser.

Kellogg left no doubt, pulling away from Weiser 48-33 to earn a state berth.

“We’ve exceeded expectations,” Bourgard said. “I told them that, ‘Nobody thought we were going to get to the ball, but you guys believed it.’ This team is resilient.”

Bourgard isn’t about to put any expectations on his team now.

“It’s going to be a learning experience,” said Bourgard, an 11-year varsity assistant with the Kellogg boys prior to taking the girls position. “We wanted to get there and get our feet wet.”

The Spartans have been a frequent qualifier since the all-IML state final featuring PR and Lakeland in 2001. PR finished second two years ago.

But the current Spartans – who are led by sophomores Tabitha Clark and Lacy Hopkins – have no link to that success.

“People don’t realize that our seniors and juniors are young as far as varsity experience,” Pancho said. “Our seniors in the past have had a lot of experience. They haven’t played a ton together until this season. They didn’t even play together much in the summer.”

But Pancho said this year’s team does have one key asset.

“They’ve played with a lot of heart,” Pancho said. “For me, I’d definitely take heart over a lot of things.”