If winning the state 5A girls basketball championship sparked a celebration for Coeur d’Alene High, then consider this a victory lap for the starting five.

Sydney Williams, Brittany Tackett, Madison Sumner, Sara Chalich and Sydni Parker — all seniors for the Vikings this season — will compete on the Region team in the 21st annual Jack Blair Memorial High School All-Star Girls Basketball Classic tonight at 7:30 p.m. at University High in Spokane Valley.

Williams and Parker have been playing basketball on the same team since kindergarten.

“I’ve enjoyed it because she’s the point guard and I’m the post,” said Williams, who was named the state 5A Player of the Year by the Idaho Statesman newspaper in Boise. “It’s been that way for the entire time we’ve played together.”

Williams, who has signed to play at the University of San Diego, averaged 16.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 1.3 blocks and 1.1 steals per game in the state tournament.

“It’s nice to have that connection and know each other’s tendencies,” Parker said. “Knowing where they’re going to be and where to pass the ball to has definitely helped us stay connected on the court.”

They didn’t start playing together as a group until their seventh grade year.

For Parker and Sumner, this also will be the final organized basketball game of their careers, as Parker will study marketing at Boise State in the fall, and Sumner plans to study dental hygiene at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. Neither plan to play basketball in college.

“These last couple of weeks, it has been really nice to not have to do anything after school,” Parker said.

Tackett (Lewis-Clark State) and Chalich (Carroll College) have signed to play basketball at NAIA schools and this will be their first Blair game. Tackett was named to the all-state first team and Sumner to the second team.

“I’m a little nervous,” Chalich said. “But I’ve got my sisters there with me, and they’ve got my back. It’s one last hurrah for us.”

“I’m excited,” Tackett said. “Just to be able to play with these kids again, and have ‘Poff’ (Coeur d’Alene coach Dale Poffenroth) as our coach again, it should be just like the state championship game, minus the big arena and bigger stage.”

The Metro has won 18 of the 20 games in the series, but the Region has won two of the last five meetings, including a 74-64 victory last year at Post Falls.

Ron Adams, director of the Spokane Stars AAU basketball club and promoter of the all-star game, said this will be the first time five players from the same team played in the Jack Blair game.

For the Coeur d’Alene five, it will also mark the final time to play for Poffenroth.

“My freshman year, I was scared of him,” Tackett said. “His worst words were ‘get on the baseline.’ We’ve played countless games with him. Playing all those games, you get really close as a group.”

“He’s been less grumpy, and I think we’ve melted his heart,” Williams said. “I think he almost looks at us like his grandchildren because we’ve been with him since the seventh grade playing summer basketball.”

“And he rocks as a coach,” Sumner said.

Williams and Tackett are the only two posts for the game, which features North Idaho players and girls elsewhere in Eastern Washington on the Region, and all-Greater Spokane League athletes on the Metro team.

“The other team is just as good as we are,” Williams said. “We’ve got a lot of guards on our team, so it’s going to be different. Brittany and I are pretty much the only posts on our team, along with (West Valley’s) Erin Higbie. We can dominate because we’ve heard they’re trying to learn how to play a zone so they can get more people around me. But it will definitely leave our guards open.”

For Chalich, the decision to continue playing came after the state tournament.

“I’ve got family in Helena, and after the state championship game, I really wasn’t done playing basketball,” Chalich said. “I’d just started playing this year and was behind track for three years. When I finally got playing time this year, I decided to sign.”

Chalich’s Carroll squad will face Tackett’s Lewis-Clark State team next year in the Frontier Conference.

“That should be some fun,” Chalich said. “We’ve been working out a lot together. We’ll probably laugh a lot at each other during the game.”

For Williams, it is her third Blair game.

“I’m just ready to play this game,” she said.

“It’s our last hurrah,” Tackett said. “I think it’s going to be harder to say good-bye after this game than the state championship.”

“It’s going to be weird that this is the last time I’ll put on basketball shoes,” Sumner said. “Ever.”

Shyla Carr, 5-8, jr., Shadle Park; Hannah Caudill, 5-7, sr., Gonzaga Prep; Ashlyn Lewey, 6-0, sr., Mead; Laura Stockton, 5-8, jr., Gonzaga Prep; McKenzie Peterson, 5-8, sr., University. Delany Junkermier, 6-0, sr., Mead; Madison Hovren, 6-0, jr., Central Valley; Brittney Johnson, 5-7, sr., Ferris; Otiona Gildon, 6-0, jr., Gonzaga Prep; Oona Harrington, 6-0, jr., Gonzaga Prep; Sue Winger, 6-1, jr., Mead; Riley Lupfer, 5-9, so., Lewis and Clark; Mariah Cunningham, 6-1, sr., Central Valley; Brianna King, sr., North Central. Coach: Mike Arte, Gonzaga Prep.

REGION

Jessie Loera, 5-7, so., Moses Lake; Alex Rankin, 5-8, sr., East Valley; Sara Chalich, 5-6, sr., Coeur d’Alene; Madison Sumner, 5-7, sr., Coeur d’Alene; Natalie Noble, 5-7, jr., West Valley; Jenna Moser, 5-5, sr., Colton; Sydni Parker, 5-6, sr., Coeur d’Alene; Chandler Smith, 6-0, sr., Brewster; Erin Higbie, 6-0, jr., West Valley; Emily Drake, 5-9, so., Pullman; Brittany Tackett, 6-0, sr., Coeur d’Alene; Sydney Williams, 6-2, sr., Coeur d’Alene. Coach: Dale Poffenroth, Coeur d’Alene.

NOTE: Tickets are $6 for adults, $5 for seniors and kids, and free for age 7 and under. ... Adams reminds fans that players will be available for autographs and photos from 6:30 to 7 p.m. only — after that, they won’t be available until after the game.