Two years ago, Centennial High coach Cassie Bro was receiving calls about some of her players that were about to play in the annual North vs. South All-Star Games at North Idaho College in Coeur d'Alene and thought that someday, it would be cool to get to coach that game.

Someday is coming a lot sooner than she thought.

BRO, A graduate of Lake City High, will coach the South girls in this weekend's event, which tips off Saturday at 1 p.m. at Rolly Williams Court.

"I'm super excited about it," Bro said earlier this week, in a phone interview from Boise. "A few years ago, I had a player in it and one of the other coaches had called about her. I thought then that would be a cool game to get to coach in."

Bro graduated from Lake City in 2000 and played at Idaho State in 2000-01 before an injury halted her playing career. During her hiatus, she was the interim head coach at the Air Force Academy Prep School in 2003-04 - finishing with a 19-9 record - before returning to play at Alaska-Anchorage the next year. She was also an assistant coach at Barry University in Miami Shores, Fla., before taking the job at Centennial in 2012.

Centennial advanced to the state 5A tournament for the first time with Bro as coach this season, going 1-2 after winning the District 3 (Boise area) tournament.

"It's awesome," Bro said. "We had a great year and the girls played really hard. That's been the goal since I got here. To come away with it (getting to state), where the year before we went 18-3 and went 1-2 at districts, it felt good to finally get over the hump. It was all of our first trip to state, and we all got to share in that experience. It's really cool to see that come full circle and honor to be nominated because I'm from there."

Bro's high school coach through her junior year - Dave Stockwell - is coaching the North boys team after leading Lakeland to a state 4A tournament appearance.

"It's kind of funny," Bro said. "I was talking with him a few days before they announced the rosters about the game and kind of dismissed it. But I looked and saw it on Twitter and thought it was amazing. I just saw him (at Lakeland's practice on Wednesday at Capital High in Boise) when they were down for the tournament, but couldn't make it to any of his games."

IN FACT, Bro was in North Idaho once the tournament started, visiting family and bringing a player to NIC, who later signed to play for the Cardinals.

"It will be a good experience," Bro said. "I'm going to have some of my kids that will be seniors (next year) with me and it will be fun to bring them back to that area and get to see the college."

The South girls have won the 8 of 11 games in the series dating back to 2004. The boys game will follow the girls game at 3 p.m.

Games will be webcast at www.idahosports.com.

"I talked with (Rocky Mountain and former Centennial coach) Emery Roy and he was giving me some insight on the game," Bro said. "I'm excited. It's going to be fun and I'm going to have my hands full."

As far as familiarity with players on her team, as well as the opposing North team, it's minimal.

"There's some of my (South) kids that I haven't seen before, and a few that I've seen film on," Bro said. "We played Lewiston in the first week of the season, but other than them, that's it. I've been gone from that area for so long that I don't know a lot of the kids in the North anymore. It's going to be fun to get back in that environment."

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d'Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter at JEPressSports.