The Idaho high school girls basketball season tips off tonight, with four local teams in action this weekend.

Tonight, Timberlake plays at Lakeland at 7, and St. Maries faces Wallace at 6 in the opener of the Silver Valley Tournament in Kellogg.

On Saturday, Lakeside plays host to Timberlake.

Here are brief looks at the four teams who open this weekend. The other five teams will be covered next week.

All teams will be previewed further in the upcoming Press winter sports special section.

Lakeland: The Hawks finished 4-18 last season, but upset Moscow in the semifinals of the 4A Region 1 tournament, before falling to Sandpoint in the title game.

Senior post Kaidan Kelsey, senior guard Haley Rotchford and junior point guard Emily Vanderhoof are returning starters for Lakeland.

"There's a sense of athleticism and quickness that seems to have been missing a little bit the last few years," said Steve Seymour, beginning his 20th season as Hawks coach. "It's nice to have some foot speed, and I think we'll be able to play 90 feet more this year."

Also back are senior post Dani Linehan and junior Faith Bodak. Junior Savannah Pruitt is back after missing her sophomore season due to a knee injury. One newcomer who could help is Costanza Piermattei, an exchange student from Italy.

"We have a lot of exchange students turn out, and most of them end up as managers," Seymour said.

Timberlake: The Tigers, state 3A runners-up last season, return two of their top three scorers in sophomore forward Keelie Lawler, a first-team all-Idaho selection last year; and sophomore point guard Allison Kirby, a second-team all-Idaho pick.

"We expect them to do more than they did last year, which is saying a lot," said Matt Miller, in his 10th season as Timberlake coach.

Also back from last year's 18-9 squad include junior guard Payten Rhodes and sophomore forward Jacqueline Mallet.

Junior Anna Gardom was a projected starter at post. But she missed cross country season with a foot injury. Miller said she could be back in December, but also could miss the season.

Her replacement was injured in weights class.

The Tigers will have to counter for a lack of size.

"We try to guard as much as a team, but this year we'll have a lot of built-in mismatches, because of our size, something we'll have to deal with all year. The mismatches will go both ways, because they still have to guard us on the other end. Our big deal will be rebounding; we can't let teams shoot until they score."

St. Maries: The Lumberjacks lost four key seniors from last year's 11-10 squad.

Back is sophomore post Kelsey Auer, who started most of last season, and two others who started occasionally - senior post Catherine Flach and junior guard Alexis Cordell. Fifth-year coach Jay Sines is also looking for big things from junior wing Kari Ghramm.

Sophomore Shelby Holder will get the start at point guard.

"We're pretty young, and we don't have a lot of varsity experience this year," Sines said. "We'll see how they handle the pressure."

Senior Kendall Brusseau, who would have started at post, will miss the season following a torn ACL during volleyball season. Freshman Kaylee Auer, the third of the Auer sisters, could step in inside.

"Mostly we're going to have to play a little better defense than we did last year," Sines said. "I don't see us scoring a ton of points."

Lakeside: Chris Dohrman, the North Star League coach of the year last year in his lone season coaching Lakeside's boys, takes over as the Knight girls head coach this year.

The move makes sense. Before last year, Dohrman was an assistant with the Lakeside girls for 14 seasons. He's coached this year's juniors, which include his daughter Cailyn, since they were third-graders.

"I enjoy switching from the boys and football to the girls and basketball," said Dohrman, who has been Lakeside football coach the past two seasons. "There's different personalities, and they get a different voice."

Lakeside finished 11-13 last season, losing to Genesee in a state 1A Division I play-in game. The Knights drop to 1A Division II this year.

Junior Talia Hendrickx moves into the point guard role this year. Cailyn Dohrman, a post, also started last year. Also back are seniors Shailee Zachary and Jasmine Zahir, and sophomores Lillian Rhea (post), Jordyn Nomee (guard) and Corin Peone (guard) could also fit into the mix.

"It will take us a while to come together," Dohrman said. "We're a young team, and definitely not very tall."