HOOPFEST NOTEBOOK: Coaches make a media match and a final time with friends for some on the basketball court

By JASON ELLIOTT

Sports writer

SPOKANE — Madi Schoening, a 2016 graduate of Sandpoint High, knew of Bryce Johnson, a 2014 Timberlake graduate before both attended — albeit at separate times — the University of Montana.

But it wasn’t until Schoening returned as an assistant girls basketball coach at Sandpoint that Johnson really began to get to know her.

“We knew of each other and it was kind of ironic because we went to the same school, but never crossed paths at Montana,” Johnson said. “When we came back to our hometowns, I saw her at a game at Timberlake and we started talking then. A couple of summers ago, we started to hang out and we’ve been together since.”

“He reached out on social media,” Schoening said. “We’d been following each other for a while, but really started to get to know each other from that.”

The couple intends to get married in August of 2026.

Schoening, who wrapped up her playing career in 2021, had been an assistant girls basketball coach at Sandpoint the past four years before being named the Bulldogs' head girls coach earlier this month.

Johnson recently completed his fourth year as baseball coach at Timberlake High, and also coaches the Northern Lakes American Legion team.

Schoening and Johnson were joined by former Griz forward Emma (Stockholm) Eastwood and her husband Adam Eastwood, a former Montana running back, to form “Griz Gang” in Saturday’s Spokane Hoopfest 3-on-3 basketball tournament. 

“Bryce and I played in the Clark Fork alumni tournament together, so we’ve played together once before,” Schoening said. “I haven’t played in Hoopfest in a while and he plays quite a bit. My best friend from college Emma (Stockholm) and her husband came in from Kansas City. It’s fun and competitive and a way to get out and play some basketball.”

Schoening replaced Will Love, who took over the Bulldog boys program.

“I really don’t want my girls playing in it, but if they want to, I’m not going to tell them they can’t,” Schoening said. “All of them knew I was coming down here and they made sure I was wearing my ankle braces and worried if I was going to make it.”

Johnson is also an assistant football coach at Timberlake and Schoening an assistant with the girls soccer program at Sandpoint.

“It’s good to have someone that knows that hectic coaching schedule,” Johnson said. “We’ve got a lot of similar interests and passions. There’s a lot of 'I’ll meet you at the house at 8 p.m.' I didn’t coach basketball for the first time in a while last year, but a lot of our time is spent either in a basketball gym or baseball field. She’ll come and watch some games and I’ll go watch her stuff.”

As for who wins in a game of 1-on-1 between Schoening and Johnson, it’s likely the former Griz guard.

“I think I play more defense, but he’s got his height,” Schoening said. “It would be a close match I think.”

“It’s got to be her,” Johnson said. “I can keep up, but it’s her. She doesn’t miss.”

Griz Gang went 0-2 and will play in the consolation bracket today.

THE POST FALLS High senior trio of Cobe Cameron, Isaac McKeown and Tyras Blake might be off to college in other sports than basketball, but that didn’t mean they were going to miss out on one last run for a Hoopfest championship.

Blake will continue his athletic career as a member of the Eastern Washington football team in the fall, and will report to camp at the end of July.

“I haven’t told them about me playing this weekend, but they didn’t say anything to me about not playing in it either,” Blake said. “I told some of my teammates though. We’ve done a few workouts already, but I don’t move onto campus until the end of July.”

McKeown has signed to play football at NAIA Arizona Christian in Glendale, Ariz. in the fall.

“My coaches at Arizona Christian always want me to get out and be more competitive,” McKeown said. “They like it when we do stuff like this.”

Cameron doesn’t report to Boise State, where he’s signed to run track and field, until Aug. 20.

The trio has advanced to the championship game in the past four years, winning twice.

“It’s our last chance to play basketball with the Post Falls boys,” Blake said. “I’m ready to play football but am really looking forward to this weekend hanging out with my boys and having fun.”

The team “Dirty Cheetahs” went 2-1 on Saturday and will continue in the tournament today.

“It’s super fun to play with these guys,” McKeown said. “I’ve played a lot of basketball with them the last few years. It’s really fun hanging around them and playing some ball. We might have to put a hold on it for the next four years since that’s probably going to be the most important four years of our lives in college.”

“We just enjoy coming here and having fun,” Cameron said. “Our basketball careers are over, but it’s really fun to come out here and keep living that and keep it going one more weekend.”

Fellow Trojan senior Trenton McLean was supposed to join the team this weekend, but was called out to help fight a forest fire in Montana. 

“They wanted him to go to Canada, but he said he couldn’t because of Hoopfest,” Cameron said. “So they made him stay longer in Montana and he wasn’t able to come.”

The Cheetahs were able to pick up a late replacement for McLean in Troy Nash, also a graduating senior at Post Falls.

Cameron originally intended to play basketball in college.

“I was blessed to be really good in track, so I decided to take the track route,” Cameron said. “I was never going to run the 400 and (Post Falls coach) Wade (Quesnell) really influenced me to do it.”

THE FUTURE of the girls basketball programs at both Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls high schools, or a part of it, was on display as River City Middle School students Kyal Carlson and Addi Salas joined forces with Canfield Middle School's Brylee Brown and Kinsley Wallis to form “Shoot and Shine,” a group of rising seventh-graders.

“We started as an AAU team and started putting some teams together and got really good,” said Carlson, whose father, Brian, was recently named girls basketball coach at Post Falls High. “We just keep working hard, no matter what. They never give up.”

“I just like how we’re always pushing each other,” Salas said. “We move the ball around a lot and have played really well together.”

“We play really physical,” Brown said. “It’s a lot more fun to go out and play hard. We just play really well together, so I really enjoy that.”

As for when that decision comes, and the players are likely on opposing sides of the court in high school?

“I think it’s going to be a lot harder,” said Wallis, sister of Karisa Wallis, who will be a senior on the Coeur d'Alene High girls team next season. “But we’ll always be good friends and encourage each other, both on and off the court. This might be our last year playing together, so we’re just trying to make the best of that.”

Shoot and Shine went 2-0 on Saturday and will play again today.

FRATERNAL TWIN sisters Kate and Olivia Maryon, who graduated from Lake City High in 2015, love competing at Hoopfest.

Well, basketball in general.

The two, along with teammate Lyndsie Krogh, who played at Cole Valley Christian and went to college with them at Boise State, are heavily involved in 5-on-5 and 3-on-3 recreational leagues in the Boise area.

The trio played in their first Hoopfest last year, so going to do it again was a no-brainer.

“Playing with my sister, we’ve been playing in this for a long time,” Kate Maryon said. “We met Lyndsie in college and played intramurals together and got along really well, so we’ve kept playing in a city league and club team. Last year was our first time in this together and we had a great time, so we’re back again.”

Kate and Olivia have played in Hoopfest nearly every year since 2011.

“Playing with my sister, we’ve been playing in this for a long time,” Kate Maryon said. “We met Lyndsie in college and played intramurals together and got along really well, so we’ve kept playing in a city league and club team. Last year was our first time in this together and we had a great time, so we’re back again.”

And again, the three opted to play without a sub this year.

“We didn’t have a fourth last year either,” Kate Maryon said. “Selfishly, we don’t like subbing and really just like being out on the court. So we didn’t have a fourth again because we didn’t want to sub. We’d rather be out there and tired than not and not tired.”

The team “Running it Back” went 2-1 on Saturday and will play a loser-out game today.

“Playing with her is easy,” Olivia Maryon said of Kate. “We’re (fraternal) twins, so we’ve got that connection. I know where she’s going to be and what she’s going to do. She really brings out my competitive side and I bring out hers. It’s my favorite to see her succeed, because when she succeeds, I succeed.”

    JASON ELLIOTT/Press Brylee Brown, a rising seventh-grade student at Canfield Middle School, drives to the basket for Shoot and Shine in an opening round game against TNT in the Spokane Hoopfest 3-on-3 basketball tournament on Saturday.
  

    JASON ELLIOTT/Press Shoot and Shine's Kinsley Wallis steals the ball from a TNT player during an opening round game at the Spokane Hoopfest 3-on-3 basketball tournament on Saturday.
  

    JASON ELLIOTT/Press Shoot and Shine's Kyal Carlson puts up a shot over the TNT defense during an opening round game at the Spokane Hoopfest 3-on-3 basketball tournament on Saturday.
  

    JASON ELLIOTT/Press Olivia Maryon, a 2015 graduate of Lake City High, chases down a rebound for Running it Back in an opening round game against PEAK in the Spokane Hoopfest 3-on-3 basketball tournament on Saturday.
  

    JASON ELLIOTT/Press Cobe Cameron, a recent graduate from Post Falls High, puts up a shot for Dirty Cheetahs during an opening round game against Mini Uncs at the Spokane Hoopfest 3-on-3 basketball tournament in Spokane.
  

    JASON ELLIOTT/Press Dirty Cheetahs' Isaac McKeown pulls down a rebound against Mini Uncs in an opening round game at the Spokane Hoopfest 3-on-3 basketball tournament on Saturday.
  

    JASON ELLIOTT/Press Griz Gang player Bryce Johnson drives to the basket during an opening round game against TBD in the Spokane Hoopfest 3-on-3 basketball tournament on Saturday.
  

    JASON ELLIOTT/Press Running it Back player Kate Maryon, a 2015 graduate of Lake City High, attempts to split the PEAK defense for a basket during an opening round game in the Spokane Hoopfest 3-on-3 basketball tournament on Saturday.