A final look at girls state tournaments

Sights and sounds from the state girls basketball tournaments:

“It was about 7:35 p.m. Boise time – 25 minutes before the scheduled tip of the State 5A title game – and there comes Jenna Griffitts bouncing down an aisle at the Idaho Center donning her Weber State warm-ups.

She surprised her freshman sister, Kama, and her Coeur d’Alene teammates from last season as she arrived in time to watch the Vikings take on Centennial.

Griffitts, who led the Vikings to fourth at state a year ago, played 27 minutes earlier in the day in Weber State’s Big Sky Conference loss at Portland State. Griffitts, who hadn’t seen her sister play all year, woke up Saturday morning and called her father, begging him to somehow find a late afternoon flight to Boise, following Weber’s 1:05 game, so she could watch her sister.

She caught a 4:20 flight out of Portland, arriving in Boise with just enough time to make the 16-mile drive down I-84 to the Idaho Center in Nampa.

It was a surprise visit. She hugged several CdA fans before catching Vikings coach Dale Poffenroth near the tunnel leading to the locker rooms. He asked Griffitts to go into the locker room, where the Vikings were awaiting their cue to go out for the 20-minute pregame warm-up.

After the sisters embraced, Griffitts gave about a 5-minute pregame speech as Poffenroth watched the 4A postgame awards ceremony.

Poffenroth then asked Griffitts if she wanted to sit on the bench. She agreed, but there was one stipulation. Poffenroth insisted that she not say a word to the referees.

Griffitts jumped out of her seat and cheered after every CdA basket. Seeing Griffitts on the bench reminded me of her inspirational influence last year. As the team’s lone senior, she was definitely the team’s go-to player. But she also embodied the team’s heart.

This year’s Vikings found a way to replace Griffitts’ statistical contributions. But the intangible the team missed was her inspirational influence.

It’s something that CdA needs next year to make another run at a state title. It will happen, especially if the Vikings find the missing ingredient that Griffitts provided in her brief appearance Saturday.

“Yes, North Idaho went 0 for 4 in the state finals last weekend.

But really, outside of possibly Wallace, which team(s) would you have picked to play for a state championship?

Moscow? Which brought an 11-13 record to state? You bet.

Coeur d’Alene? Which started one freshman – one good freshman, I might add, in Kama Griffitts – and gave extensive minutes to two other frosh? Uh-huh.

Kellogg? Which was making its first trip to state in 15 years? Hardly. All the Wildcats wanted to do as they boarded the bus for Boise last week was enjoy the ride and build for next year.

Wallace, Coeur d’Alene and Kellogg will all return to state next year. Don’t be surprised if each end up back under the bright lights at the Idaho Center.

“I watched all five state title games, writing stories about four of them. All the area teams gave a respectable account of themselves. I’ll remember that day for many years to come.

After talking with a couple of underclassmen from each team, I’m convinced that the young stars of Wallace, CdA and Kellogg will be hungry to return.

I can’t wait.