Timberlake’s girls basketball team can wrap up a perfect season against 4A Inland Empire League opponents if the Tigers can win at Sandpoint on Saturday.

Thing is, as you may know, Timberlake is a 3A team in the Intermountain League.

So far, the Tigers are 5-0 against the three schools in North Idaho that are one classification higher than the Spirit Lake school. Timberlake has beaten Lakeland and Moscow twice each, and Sandpoint once, by an average of 26.4 points. The closest margin of victory has been 9 points.

Good thing this was supposed to be somewhat of a “down” year for the Tigers.

Uh huh.

Timberlake (13-3) is also 4-0 in the IML, winning by an average of 41.8 points.

The Tigers’ three losses have come at the hands of Lewiston, East Valley and Cashmere (Wash.).

Timberlake’s closest league game was a 12-point win over Bonners Ferry last week at home. If the Tigers hope to cap another perfect IML season, they’ll have to finish it off with a win at Bonners on Jan. 30, which would be no easy feat.

The Tigers lost the core of the team that won back-to-back state titles to graduation. A few holdovers returned, and two freshmen have helped.

Timberlake coach Matt Miller thought this year would be a work in progress with this team. He’s right — the Tigers are progressing toward another league and district title, followed by a run at the state title. Timberlake has played in the state title game six of the last seven seasons, including the last four, and won the last two championship games.

The Tigers appear on a collision course with Sugar-Salem (15-2), the team they beat in overtime last year in the state final.

However, barring an upset of either team at districts, Timberlake and Sugar-Salem would meet in the semifinals at state — another reason why the cries have gotten louder for Idaho to change the way it brackets state tournaments.

But’s that’s a topic for another time.

AMIDST THE screamfest that is the Fight for the Fish spirit games, Coeur d’Alene’s boys picked up a big victory last week with its 48-47 win at Lake City.

Road wins are gold in the 5A Inland Empire League.

Post Falls (10-5, 2-0 5A IEL) already has two of them, at Coeur d’Alene and at Lewiston. The Trojans visit Lake City (7-6, 1-1) on Friday. The T-Wolves’ league win was over visiting Lewiston (7-7, 0-2).

Coeur d’Alene (5-7, 1-1) got one back after losing at home to Post Falls by 24 points. Coeur d’Alene hosts Lewiston on Friday, then visits Post Falls next Thursday.

Post Falls is the odds-on favorite to win the league and regional titles. But the second berth from regionals, which would mean a spot in a state play-in game, appears to be up for grabs between Coeur d’Alene, Lake City and Lewiston.

Coeur d’Alene coach Tony Hanna, by the way, hit the 100-win milestone for his coaching career earlier this season when the Vikings won at Northwest Christian. Hanna, in his second season at Coeur d’Alene after five seasons at Timberlake and two years before that at Tekoa-Oakesdale (Wash.), has a career mark of 103-98.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.