Lowther tries to help Bonners Ferry get to postseason
Coming back to the basketball court for her senior season couldn’t have been easy for Bonners Ferry High standout Becky Lowther.
Last year’s Intermountain League player of the year led the Badgers through an undefeated league schedule in 2005-06 only to see it all slip away at districts as they were upset by Kellogg and failed to qualify for state.
Then graduation took its toll.
Lowther, one of only three returning varsity players, must help pick up the pieces and try to pull off what Kellogg did a season ago.
But it is by no means an easy trick.
“It can be pretty frustrating at times,” Lowther said. “We’re working on just trying to get everyone to play as a team and work together.
“The younger players have a hard time in the tighter games – they’re not used to the pressure.”
Lowther said there are some encouraging signs.
“I do see improvement from week to week,” she said. “It looks pretty good at times, and I think we’re doing it at the right time, going into the end of the year and then districts.”
This is the topsy-turvy IML, after all.
“I think we have it in us (to do well in district play),” said Lowther, a four-year starter who also plays volleyball and competes in track. “We play really well when we’re on, so it’s just a matter of whether we show up or not.
“Anything can happen – any team can be beaten if everything falls together at the right time.”
With graduation just around the corner, Lowther said she would like to continue competing on the hardwood.
“I’m thinking about Lewis-Clark State in Lewiston, but I’m not sure yet,” she said.
It has to be a little bit exciting to charge out into that big world. But in her case, maybe not so much.
“I want to stay here,” she said of her home near Eastport, north of Bonners Ferry. “I live about 8 miles from the Canadian border, so I’m way out there.
“I just love how open it is – you don’t really have to worry about neighbors and our dogs can get out and run and not worry about them going into the street.”