Plenty of state title prospects

The 2005-06 girls basketball season had an entertaining finish, to say the least.

Coeur d’Alene, Moscow, Kellogg and Wallace played for state championships. Coeur d’Alene, Kellogg and Wallace return the core of their teams. At the very least, those teams hope to be playing in Nampa’s Idaho Center on championship Saturday come mid-February.

As many as six other area teams have hopes of punching tickets to state. So the 2006-07 season is shaping up to be nothing short of competitive.

It’s not a cinch that Coeur d’Alene, Kellogg and Wallace will capture their respective leagues’ top seed to state. Each should be challenged.

“CdA, which returns four of five starters, will seek a third straight Inland Empire League championship. But Lake City and Post Falls, both of which return five starters, figure to push the Vikings.

Vikings coach Dale Poffenroth expects his team to get back to state nonetheless.

“I think we should be there,” said Poffenroth, who had open heart surgery to clean out five blocked blood vessels in late September.

In the state title game a year ago, CdA gave eventual state champ Centennial a battle before the Patriots prevailed 58-45.

“I think maybe we were just happy to be there,” Poffenroth said. “Maybe Centennial was just a little bit better. They had a few more kids who had been there.”

Poffenroth was pleased with his team’s off-season commitment.

“This team has put in a lot of time,” Poffenroth said. “I think we’re going to be better shooters overall.”

With Post Falls moving up to 5A, the league’s big-school teams will adopt a true double-elimination format for their state-qualifying regional tournament to decide the automatic state berth. The runner-up can earn a berth by winning a play-in game against the District III (Boise area) fifth-place team.

Like LC and Post Falls, Lewiston returns five starters. It could be a tug of war for the right to play in the play-in game.

But none of those teams is ready to concede anything to CdA.

“It’s going to be a super-tough league,” Post Falls coach Chris Johnson said. “Obviously, Coeur d’Alene is the favorite. But whoever emerges out of our league will have definitely earned the right to go to state.”

LC won the play-in game last year. As it turned out, LC felt like it should have captured a state trophy.

“You can put us in the mix among the top five teams in the state,” LC coach Darren Taylor said. “Last year our goal was to get down there and see what it looked like. This year we want to get down there and do some damage.”

“Kellogg was a Cinderella story a year ago.

The Wildcats were picked to finish fourth out of five teams in the Intermountain League. They finished tied with Priest River for second and upset league champ Bonners Ferry to advance to a play-in game.

At state, Kellogg used stingy defense to advance to the state final. Defense kept the Wildcats in the game against Shelley before the Russets mustered up just a little more offense than Kellogg in the second half for a 49-44 decision.

“Hopefully, we can duplicate what we did last year,” said second-year Kellogg coach Steve Bourgard. “There’s a big target on our back. We were fortunate to be playing our best basketball at the end.”

Bonners Ferry and defending district champ Priest River should make it a three-team race for the league’s one automatic state berth. The runner-up can earn a state berth in a play-in game against the District III runner-up.

“I think whoever comes out of our league – whether it’s one or two teams – will have a shot at winning state,” Bourgard said.

“Wallace cruised to the North Star League title last year. Kootenai earned the league’s second state berth.

Both teams should return to state. But Wallace wants to trade up in trophies this year after falling to Garden Valley 54-48 in a tightly contested state final.

Wallace finished the regular season 19-1. The Miners upgraded their schedule and will play 10 games against IML teams.

“I guarantee you one thing – we won’t be 19-1, but we’ll be much better prepared for state,” second-year Wallace coach Kirby Krulitz said. “We had a terribly weak schedule last year. I don’t care if we lose five or six games. The schedule will really help us.”

Wallace returns all five starters. What the Miners must do is develop some depth, especially in the post.

“Can we win it (state)?” Krulitz asked, repeating a reporter’s question. “I believe we can win it. The girls are focused to get back to the state championship game. They liked playing in the Idaho Center. They’re more than capable of getting back there.”