Party in Tiger Town
Coeur d'Alene Press | UPDATED 8 years, 10 months AGO
RYAN COLLINGWOOD/Press Members of the Timberlake girls basketball team are welcomed by supporters Sunday at Timberlake High School. The Tigers won their second straight state 3A title Saturday in Nampa.
Timberlake supporters stand outside of the school Sunday to welcome back their state champion girls basketeball team. The Tigers won their second-straight 3A state champioship Saturday in Nampa.
Ryan Collingwood/Press Timberlake hoops standout Keeley Lawler, right, thanks supporters Sunday at Timberlake High School. The Tigers won their second-straight 3A state champioship Saturday in Nampa.
By RYAN COLLINGWOOD
Staff Writer
SPIRIT LAKE — Holding rain-soaked spirit signs, a horde of Timberlake High supporters celebratorily gathered in front of the school Sunday afternoon.
Considering its girls basketball team clipped Sugar-Salem 60-57 in Nampa on Saturday to earn a second straight state 3A championship, this homecoming was warranted.
The pep band was playing. The pom-poms were waving. Players and coaches couldn't help but grin as they walked off their bus into arms of friends and family members.
February showers didn't dampen this party.
"For this many people to show up in this weather and support us and to show how much they care about the girls in the program, it's just really special," said Timberlake coach Matt Miller, sporting a hoodie over his ballcap.
Timberlake mainstay Keelie Lawler echoed Miller.
"This just means a lot more this year because it's my senior year," said Lawler, who has signed to play basketball next season at NCAA Division II Western State Colorado. "It's pouring out here, so for them to come out and support us is really cool."
Timberlake (23-2) advanced to its sixth title game in seven years after boat racing Teton and Parma by a combined 88 points in the first two rounds.
Saturday's title tilt with eastern Idaho power Sugar-Salem was a taut one, though.
Timberlake trailed the Diggers a sizable portion of the game, but Idaho-bound guard Allison Kirby's 3-pointer with 1:58 left gave the Tigers a 58-56 lead they wouldn't relinquish.
"It unfolded in a way we didn't expect. We didn't really think we were going to blow out a couple teams, but then in the last game we did some uncharacteristic stuff," said Kirby, who finished with 27 points in the title game. "It took us by surprise but we still fought through the adversity."
And how did the Tigers celebrate their repeat?
"We went to Denny's," Kirby said with a laugh. "We went there after we won state last year, so we went there again."
The team stayed in a hotel in La Grande, Ore., on Saturday night before returning to Spirit Lake around 1:45 Sunday afternoon.
Miller, Timberlake's 12th-year head coach, wanted this year's routine to mimic last year's. He wanted the team to eat at the same restaurants, visit the same stores, and go through the same pre-game routine.
Almost everything was the same.
"We usually have the same hotel (in the Boise area), but not this year. That wasn't by choice," Miller said. "We try to keep the same traditions as much as possible."
One tradition Miller helped keep intact was Kootenai County's success at the 5A, 4A and 3A state girls basketball tournaments
Since 2000, a team from Kootenai County has brought a banner back to North Idaho in all but six years. Coeur d'Alene High (2000, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2014), Post Falls (2002, 2003, 2013), Lakeland (2001, 2002), Timberlake (2016, 2017) and Lake City (2007) have all earned titles in that stretch.
Lawler was happy to be a part of it.
"it was definitely a lot harder this year, being a senior and everything," she said." But we just stuck together and played hard. That final game was tough, but we worked through the adversity."