3A

Timberlake High girls basketball coach Matt Miller said he’s been looking at the pre-drawn matchup on the state 3A tournament bracket for nearly a year.

1A vs. 6A.

With his Tigers having won the last five District 1 titles heading into the season, Miller was pretty sure Timberlake was going to be the 1A.

And he had a pretty good idea Sugar-Salem, the two-time defending state champion, was going to be the 6A.

As it turned out, the 15th-year Timberlake coach was correct — his Tigers (17-4) will face Sugar-Salem (21-1) in the first round at state, tonight at 5:15 PST at Middleton High.

Sugar-Salem was ranked No. 1 in the final media poll of the season. Timberlake was ranked third.

The winner will most likely face Parma (19-2), ranked No. 2, in the semifinals Friday night.

Yes, that’s correct — the top three teams in the state on the same side of the bracket, with two of them facing each other in the first round.

“Same story as always,” Miller said last week, after the Tigers beat Kellogg to win their sixth straight district title. “I don’t know. In my opinion, second, third and fourth are the same trophy ... I see no difference between second, third and fourth because it’s all luck of the draw. The champion is the champion, and second, third and fourth, it’s all the same to me.

“You can play the toughest team first, and the best you can do is fourth. You could be the second-best team in the state, but because of the way they do it, you could get one (a trophy) with a 4 on it.”

In basketball — and most other sports — the Idaho High School Activities Association pre-draws the bracket, trying to pit district champions from one district against runners-up or worse from other districts.

But with five district champions in 3A, one of the first-round games is always going to pit a pair of district champions.

Matchups like Timberlake vs. Sugar-Salem in the first round are going to happen from time to time under the current format.

The IHSAA says if someone has a better idea for seeding tournaments — and wants to present that idea to the board of directors — they are all ears.

IHSAA executive director Ty Jones said that while the IHSAA Board of Directors could suggest a change in how tournaments are bracketed, generally it’s up to the schools to come to the IHSAA with a proposal for change — much like what has happened with the playoff bracketing in football in recent years.

“At this time, we have not received (a proposal) for any sport other than football,” Jones said.

Timberlake lost to Sugar-Salem in the 2018 semifinals and finished third. The Tigers were also third last year after falling to Parma in the semis. When Timberlake won its second straight state title, the Tigers downed Sugar-Salem in the 2017 title game.

This year’s Timberlake squad is led by junior guard Taryn Soumas, the MVP of the Intermountain League, and junior forward Brooke Jessen, last year’s MVP in the IML. Jessen (1,034) and Soumas (901) are fourth and fifth, respectively, on the Tigers’ career scoring list.

Miller points to the drastic improvement of his team this year — including his two junior stars.

“This team doesn’t look anything like it did in November,” Miller said. “Blayre Jeffs (a junior post) has made some big improvements. Her last 4-5 games have been the best 4-5 games of her high school career. She’s trending in the right direction. (Junior) Olivia Hammond’s been playing great, especially on the defensive end, setting the tone for us. (Sophomore) McKennah Kronenberg’s gotten better from the beginning of the season. She’s been a really big rebounder for us, especially on the defensive end.

“It’s been a lot of different girls. And even Taryn and Brooke have improved a lot this season.”

5A

When Post Falls last won the state 5A title in 2018, a group of sophomores were on the court as the final seconds ticked off the clock.

Tonight, the Trojans (13-10) — along with a few of those same faces — return to the Ford Idaho Center, taking on Timberline High (21-3) of Boise starting at 7.

“I haven’t watched a lot of film on them, but from what I’ve heard, they’re really good,” ninth-year Post Falls coach Marc Allert said Saturday, after the Trojans beat Lake City for Region 1’s second berth to state.

“We’ve definitely got our work cut out for us,” added Allert, who also coached the Trojans to a state title in 2013.

Senior Katie Fleming was among that group to close out the 62-53 win over previously unbeaten Eagle in 2018 for the Trojans’ fifth state title.

“It’s a good feeling to get back to state, especially since we were so close last year, losing in the play-in game (to Meridian),” Fleming said. “We’re all ready and super pumped.”

And it’s everyone, from the four seniors (Fleming, Ali Carpenter, Kennedy LaFountaine and Laney Smith), three juniors (Maya Blake, Dylan Lovett and Jayda Johnson) three sophomores (Alexis Heath, Kaysha Walton and Hanna Christensen) and one freshman (Capri Sims).

“This is a great locker room,” Allert said. “Our younger kids were excited for our seniors to get to state,” Allert said. “This has been a great senior class. They’re awesome people, and the basketball stuff aside, they’re great kids to be around. And the other kids understand that, and they wanted it as well for this senior class. They deserve this. This is what they’ve been fighting for all year. Everyone is really unselfish and nobody cares who’s getting the credit. And it’s worked out for us.”

Post Falls beat fellow state qualifiers Timberlake (3A), Sandpoint (4A) and Lapwai (1A Division I) during the regular season.

Coeur d’Alene might not be the tallest team in the 5A tournament this year — its tallest player is a 6-foot freshman — but the Vikings could be playing the best basketball of anyone in the field, winning seven straight games entering today’s matchup against defending champion Eagle (15-11).

“I think we’ve got all the pieces, but need to keep playing for each other,” Coeur d’Alene junior guard Tori Younker said. “We had a stretch in the middle of the season where we went away from that for a minute, and were playing more on the individual side of things. We realized that’s not our identity and who we want to be. As long as we stay together, and believe we’re all we need, we can be successful. We don’t need the tallest person, or have someone that’s committed to Oregon. But we’ve got all the pieces together within our team.”

Mountain View (21-2) and Boise (15-8) are on Coeur d’Alene’s side of the bracket. Earlier this year, Lake City beat Boise 58-55, then lost to Mountain View 55-22. The Vikings went 2-1 against Lake City this season, beating them 58-36 to advance to state for the first time since 2014.

“We’re a family this year,” said freshman Madison Symons, who is the daughter of first-year coach Nicole Symons. “We all bond and we’re really good friends, which bonds us on the court. We can be a step ahead of each other and get on each other on the court without anyone taking it personally. We can hold each other accountable, which can help us.”

1A Division II

At the start of coach Chris Dohrman’s sixth season as girls basketball coach at Lakeside, he had an idea that his team — with five seniors and a handful of underclassmen — had the skill to get back to the state tournament for the first time since 2017.

“We knew where we sat at the beginning of the season, and it’s something we’ve been working for,” said Dohrman, whose team advanced to state with a 64-48 win over Clark Fork on Feb. 13 at North Idaho College. “The girls did a fantastic job getting to this point.”

Lakeside (15-6) faces Tri-Valley (18-2) at Nampa High to open the tournament tonight at 5:15 PST.

“We’re starting to come together as a team and play a lot better,” Dohrman said. “Which is what you want to be doing at this time of the season.”

Sophomores Jolissa Holt and Ashlee Holt, as well as freshman Arianna Gorr, were named to the All-North Star League team last week.

“We’ve got some young players that do some good things for us, and we’ve got some seniors that do some good things as well,” said Dohrman, who coached the Knights to a fourth-place finish in 2016 — their last trophy from state. “We’ve played some some different levels of competition this season, and we’re hoping we’re ready to play a higher level of competition at state.”

Lakeside could meet defending champion Carey on the second day. Salmon River, last year’s runner-up, is on the other side of the bracket.

4A

Sandpoint (16-7), at state for the sixth time in seven seasons, opens vs. Burley (15-9) tonight at 5:15 PST at Timberline High in Boise. ... Century defeated Caldwell in last year’s state title game. Both are on the top off the bracket, opposite Sandpoint. Bonneville (24-0) will be without senior Brooklyn Cunningham, who suffered the second ACL tear of her career in the 4A District 6 semifinals versus Skyline. Senior guard Makayla Sorensen, Idaho’s Gatorade Player of the Year for volleyball and a Weber State volleyball commit, leads the Bees in rebounds (5.74) and assists (2.78).

2A

Soda Springs defeated Melba in last year’s state title game. If Melba knocks off District 1-2 champion Grangeville in the first round, Melba and Soda could meet in the semis. Grangeville lost in the consolation title game last year.

1A Division I

Shoshone, last year’s state champion, did not qualify. Genesee, last year’s state runner-up, opens vs. Rimrock in tonight’s finale at Columbia High in Nampa.