As a freshman, the bid for a state basketball championship at the Idaho Center in Nampa came up short.

And again as a sophomore.

Then again as a junior.

Motivation - there's plenty of that to go around for Coeur d'Alene High senior Sydney Williams.

"When you come out of the tunnel into your parents, and they (the other team) have got the celebration apple cider, and you've finished second, it makes you want to cry," Williams said.

In 2011, Coeur d'Alene came up short, losing 43-39 to Lewiston in the state title game. In 2012, Coeur d'Alene was upset in the semifinals 58-56 by Centennial High of Boise, but bounced back to beat Highland of Pocatello 55-40 in the third-place game.

Back in the state 5A title game in 2013, Coeur d'Alene lost 46-44 in overtime to Post Falls.

"Our sophomore year, we drove by the Idaho Center because we had to go to another school because we lost," Williams said. "We want to stay there and actually win this year."

"It's one of those deals where we've been so close," Coeur d'Alene coach Dale Poffenroth said. "You could be really good and sometimes it just doesn't work out. Sometimes in this whole thing of life, you need to catch a break. Certainly, that's the goal (winning the state title)."

Williams, a 6-foot-3 senior post, is averaging 16.4 points a game and 8.2 rebounds a game. She signed with NCAA Division I University of San Diego in November, following up a verbal commitment to the West Coast Conference school in August.

"It just felt like home to me," Williams said. "All of the teachers are really supportive of the girls from what some of them have told me and when they go on the road, they leave on a Thursday and the teachers are very understanding and get them their homework. I take school very seriously and am in the top 20 in my class, so I want to do well in school as well. School is going to take me a lot further than basketball will, I think."

At San Diego, Williams plans to major in something in the medical field.

"I want to go into something in health sciences, and they've got really good options for that with a lot of different areas of study for that," she said.

Among other schools interested in Williams were Saint Mary's, Wyoming, Boise State, Portland and Eastern Washington.

"The whole recruiting process started toward the middle of my sophomore year," Williams said. "I started to get letters, but it really hit during my junior year, especially when I started to get (phone) calls. It got overwhelming, but it also felt good that I was finally getting recognized for working hard."

Having the process over before her senior year had begun was a relief to say the least for Williams.

"It was a big lift off my shoulders," Williams said. "Like a really lot, lot of pressure off my shoulders. I knew this year was going to be really hard, but I knew I wanted to pick the right school. I didn't want to be forced into going somewhere and just ended up in a good place."

On the basketball court, Williams will join a Toreros squad that was ranked 24th in the nation entering play last weekend.

"There's kind of pressure there, but I think it's more exciting than anything," Williams said of her future team being ranked. "I'm excited for the girls because I got a chance to meet them."

Last Friday, on the night before the Toreros took on conference foe Gonzaga in Spokane, University of San Diego coach Cindy Fisher came to Coeur d'Alene to watch Williams and the rest of her teammates practice.

"She was nervous all day from what (Coeur d'Alene athletic director) Todd Gilkey said," Poffenroth said of Williams. "I asked her about it and she said she was nervous and worried because her coach was coming to look at her. She gets the same way about an exam."

Williams will join former high school teammate Carli Rosenthal, now a junior at Saint Mary's who played at Coeur d'Alene High from 2008 to 2011, in the WCC.

"Carli kind of put me into the mindset that 'this is varsity, and you've got to work hard every night,'" Williams said. "So I could see that in her every night."

Williams' great-grandfather Ralph Tasker was a basketball coach in New Mexico and was known for his full-court pressing defense, which inspired Nolan Richardson's "40 Minutes of Hell" defense when he coached at Arkansas.

Tasker died in 1999.

"My mom always tells me that's he's watching me and to do my best," Williams said. "So I just try and go out and play well for him."

"If you need something done, she can get it done," Poffenroth said. "She's grown up that way and into that leadership role over the last three years. Athletically, she's more than willing to share the ball to achieve the goal that we all want to achieve. It doesn't bother her. She knows and does her part and that's the biggest thing to her."

"I didn't really look at the certain conference and didn't really care," Williams said of the recruiting process. "I do know I'm ready to beat Gonzaga. I just knew that I wanted to go to a good school, but was also looking at it to see if it was a good program and if I'd get playing time."

Williams has spent time playing with the Spokane Stars AAU team coached by Ron Adams, playing in the last three Jack Blair Memorial All-Star Classic games.

"I haven't burned out yet, and I hope I don't, because I don't think I will," Williams said. "Playing summer ball every year, you get to play basketball all year long, which is nice because I like it. It keeps you in shape."

Coeur d'Alene has started the season 12-2, 1-1 in the 5A Inland Empire League and will travel to Post Falls tonight to face the Trojans for the first time since last year's championship game.

"Our team is really strong and we're coming together as a family," Williams said. "We don't want to lose again in the state championship game. We've been second, third and second again, so we don't want to get short-changed this year."

Coeur d'Alene's losses this season have come to Lewiston in the league opener and to Hoover (Ohio) in the Diamond State Classic in Wilmington, Del.

"It was so much fun and a great experience," said Williams of the Delaware tournament. "We got to go sightseeing and played some really good teams. Personally, I thought we could have won the tournament if we could have gotten past the first team. We just came up a little short (lost 62-56), but they were really good and an aggressive team. I think all of us seniors are ready to win, so we're putting in a lot of extra work and our goal is to dominate this year."