Schoening pleasant surprise for PF

The Post Falls girls basketball team wasn’t expected to do much this season.

Apparently, the Trojans didn’t get the memo.

At 6-3 in the Inland Empire League, PFHS sits in second place, just one game back of Coeur d’Alene.

Crucial to this year’s campaign has been the play of freshman point guard Jordan Schoening.

Schoening has been a pleasant surprise for the Trojans, who find themselves shooting for a No. 1 seed in the 4A Region I tournament.

Schoening said she’s been blessed to avoid many of the pitfalls facing first-year players.

“I feel like I have quite a bit of confidence out there,” Schoening says. “All my seniors are there for me, and they’re never putting me down, which helps a lot.

“They have confidence in me, and they treat me like I’m one of them – and I feel like that when I’m out there playing with them.”

Just how well the recipe is working will be decided in short order as Post Falls faces IEL road contests at Moscow tonight and at Sandpoint on Saturday before a home showdown against the league-leading Vikings on Jan. 26.

“I think Coeur d’Alene is going to be a big test,” Schoening said. “We’re really going to have to have our heads in the game and work really hard.

“I think if we do that, we might pull out a win and hopefully win the IEL.”

Breathing that kind of rarified air, why stop there?

“I think we can go all the way if we push ourselves really hard,” said Schoening, who also plays softball for the Trojans. “We need to work hard in practice and never give up, you know?”

Listening to Schoening, it seems a cinch that the Trojans will at least take care of the practice part – thanks largely to the beyond-the-call efforts of coach Chris Johnson.

“I think it helps so much that our coach works with us in the off-season,” she said. “He’s there with us every day after school and that makes a huge difference.”

Johnson, who said Schoening is his best defensive player and a much better shooter than she may have shown to this point of the season, has come to rely on the youngster as his team leader.

“She is mature way beyond her years – especially in the basketball sense,” Johnson said. “She understands the game and has a great feel for the game.

“She knows what it takes to win.”