THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Two years after not even having a team, Kootenai girls gotta wear shades

Sometimes, having to cancel a season because of a lack of players could be devastating to a program. 

In the case of the Kootenai High girls basketball team ... 

“It actually worked out perfectly for me,” Warriors coach Alyssa Liermann said. 

How’s that? 

In late 2023, Liermann was pregnant, and due Oct. 30, the day before the first day practice was supposed to begin. 

“So I didn’t know how I was going to do it anyway,” Liermann recalled. “We didn’t have enough girls and (school officials) said 'Honestly, we don’t have a team’ and I said 'Honestly, this is a really good maternity leave for me anyway.’ So it worked out perfectly.” 

Two seasons later, Kootenai’s girls are on to state for the first time since 2013 after winning the 1A District 1 championship last week at North Idaho College in Coeur d’Alene. The eighth-seeded Warriors (7-8) will play top-seeded Salmon River (23-0) of Riggins in a first-round game today at 11 a.m. PST at Owyhee High in Meridian. 

“It’s a big deal to have gotten them to this point,” Liermann said. “We have done a lot of mental work; the girls have really bought into the mental, team side of it. We’ve all built really strong relationships this year to get us to this point.” 

KOOTENAI HAS had a strong girls basketball program in the past. 

From 1997-2008, the Warriors went to state 11 times, including a consolation championship in a 16-team 1A tournament in 2004, the last time Kootenai’s girls brought home a trophy from state. 

Many of those rosters were dotted with Scheffelmaier sisters, and most of the teams coached by Doug Napierala, now the school’s athletic director. 

But sports go in cycles, especially at smaller schools. 

Since then, before this year, Kootenai went to state just once — in 2013. 

The Warriors last had a winning season in 2014-15. 

In 2022, Liermann took over a program that had won two games in the previous four seasons — including 2020-21, when the Warriors didn’t field a team because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Liermann’s first team went 0-14. 

“Honestly, I wouldn’t say we had much of a program my first year,” Liermann said. “We started with seven, eight (players), we ended with four and a half. We had a lot of injuries.” 

In 2023-24, Kootenai considered playing with a team featuring one high school player, and the rest eighth graders, then decided against it. 

Last season, those eighth graders formed the bulk of a team that finished 5-12, winning the North Star League and district titles, then losing to Nezperce in a state play-in game.  

“Last year we had to pull up two eighth graders; we had all freshmen and two eighth graders,” Liermann said. “This year we have four sophomores, four freshmen. We started with 10, now we have seven.” 

In the play-in game, Kootenai fell behind 34-2 at halftime of an eventual 55-17 loss. 

“The play-in game was rough for us,” Liermann recalled. “And I think the fact they haven’t played in that big of a game ... it was hard for us.” 

The Warriors were also missing one of their top players last year for the game. Freshman Harleigh Dutton told the team at the beginning of the season she wouldn’t be available that weekend.  

"She races sled dogs, so she was gone for a sled dog race,” Liermann said. “That was always her first priority.” 

Still, those five wins last year were the most by a Kootenai girls team since the 2016-17 season. 

THIS YEAR, the Warriors started winning more games, and the confidence grew. There was no play-in game this year, so Kootenai’s path to state was simple — beat Mullan, the only other team in the North Star League in girls basketball, in the district title game. 

“Everyone said they wanted to get to state, and I said we’re going to have to put in an insane amount of work in order to get there,” Liermann said. “And they have. They have been coming in every Sunday; we have been practicing six days a week, and it’s not a ‘me’ thing, it’s a ‘them’ thing. They asked me, 'Hey coach, can we practice on Sundays? Can we have extra shootaround on Sundays?’ They’re all staying late after practice, they’re all working out at home, they’re all doing everything they should be to get to where we are.”

The former Alyssa Carey played at Priest River High for girls basketball coach Gary Stewart, graduating in 2016.  

"I couldn’t have done it this year without Emma Gustin, my assistant coach,” Liermann said. “She’s from Timberlake, so she knows what a program looks like. She’s been a great help for me.” 

Sophomore Brooklyn Charles leads the Warriors, averaging 14 points, 14 rebounds and three assists per game. Other key players include freshman Juniper Stevenson (4.8 points per game), Dutton (4 points, 4.6 rebounds), freshmen Dani Davidson (4 points, 3.1 steals, 2 assists) and freshman Hunter Charles (5.9 rebounds, 3 steals). 

“We’ve improved so much this year,” said Brooklyn Charles, who has attended Kootenai schools all the way through. “Even from the first day of practice to now, it’s crazy.” 

Kootenai’s second-leading scorer, Sadie Rose Davidson (8 points, 8 rebounds) suffered a broken foot and tore a ligament in a recent game and is out for the season. 

As for state ... 

“I think it’s going to be really difficult,” Liermann said. “But I think the girls, no matter the outcome, it’s going to be a huge learning experience for them. It’s going to make them hungrier for the future. They are still very young, and I have to keep that in mind, so whatever happens this year happens. It will make them into better players and then two years from now, when we go back when they’re seniors, it will be a different story.” 

AFTER WINNING the district championship last Thursday, as the Warriors posed for photos with the first-place trophy on the court at North Idaho College, the Kootenai players and coaches whipped out sunglasses for another, fun photo. 

“The girls requested glasses,” Liermann said. “They thought it would be cool to come out (for the trophy ceremony) wearing them. So I ordered them.” 

That’s because, with Kootenai High girls basketball, the future’s so bright ... 

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 1205, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @CdAPressSports. 

    MARK NELKE/Press The Kootenai High girls basketball team donned shades after the Warriors won the 1A District 1 championship last week at North Idaho College, advancing to state for the first time since 2013.