Sports writer
COEUR d'ALENE -- Katie Baker of Lake City High has discovered the joys -- and pains -- of weightlifting.
Kama Griffitts of Coeur d'Alene is looking forward to continuing her basketball career closer to home than originally planned.
Camille Reynolds of Lakeland is admittedly nervous, but nerves helped her set a state record -- twice -- at the recent state track meet.
Jordan Schoening of Post Falls decided to have a little fun this spring -- so she strapped on some shin guards and a mask.
Sadie Simon of Coeur d'Alene plans to have a ball in college as well -- a soccer ball.
Coeur d'Alene teammate Amy Warbrick figures to feel a whole lot better than she did during her final high school basketball game.
Together, they'll close out their high school careers on the basketball court Monday night, playing for the Region team in the 16th annual Jack Blair Memorial Girls All-Star Basketball Classic at Lake City High.
The game pits the Metro squad (first- and second-team all-Greater Spokane League players) vs. the Region team (North Idaho and other eastern Washington players).
Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
"I'm a little bit nervous, actually, but I think it's going to be super, super competitive," said Reynolds, who will be playing in her first Blair all-star game. "It's going to be a blast for people to watch."
• Baker, who graduated Thursday night from the Coeur d'Alene Charter Academy, is playing in the game for the fourth time.
Lake City's all-time leading scorer with 1,660 points recently received a workout schedule from Montana, where she signed to play next season. Part of the routine involves lifting weights -- something she admits not doing a whole lot of in high school.
"It's definitely a challenge, but I've come a long way," the 6-foot-1 post/forward said. "I'm getting stronger. I feel myself sore and getting stronger, so it's good for me."
• A couple of weeks after leading Coeur d'Alene to its second straight state title, Griffitts went to watch North Idaho College play Snow College of Ephraim, Utah, in the semifinals of the Region 18 women's basketball tournament.
Griffitts had committed to Snow, but little did Snow know that at time, Griffitts had had a change of heart and decided to play at NIC.
"When I went to Snow for my visit I enjoyed the coaches and players, but it was a little far from home and kind of in the middle of nowhere," the 6-1 guard/forward said. "It wasn't a matter of the girls or the coaches in any way; I just wanted to be closer to home."
Griffitts committed to Snow shortly after making a recruiting trip there. She said for some reason, she had never given NIC much thought until Cardinals coach Chris Carlson called her and said he was interested.
She started having second thoughts about Snow. She called Carlson and told him she wanted to be a Cardinal -- just hours before NIC was to play Snow in the Region 18 semifinal.
"I kinda thought I made the decision (to go to Snow) not really based on how I felt about it," Griffitts said.
Griffitts, who became Coeur d'Alene's all-time leading scorer this season, will be playing in her fourth Jack Blair game.
"It's a lot of fun playing in it," she said. "But it's a little pressure on us this year, I think, because the Region side's never won."
• Reynolds had extra motivation to win in the prelims and finals of the 4A 300-meter hurdles at the state meet in Boise -- she hadn't lost all year in the race.
In fact, her last loss in the race was her junior year, to Hanna Johnson of Coeur d'Alene in the District 1 all-star meet.
"They were nipping on my heels in the prelims so I thought I had to speed up in the finals," said Reynolds, who ran a 44.93 in the prelims, and bettered that with a 44.17 in the finals. "I felt a girl coming around a little bit on the corner (in the finals) and I was like, 'uh uh, I'm not losing this one,' so I just kicked it into my last gear and hoped I wouldn't trip over a couple of hurdles."
Reynolds briefly considered running track in college, but received more recruiting interest in basketball, and opted for NIC because it was close to home, several other players there are local kids, and two former Lakeland teammates who played at NIC also spoke highly of the school.
"You have to do what you love, and I love basketball," said Reynolds, the Hawks' point guard the past two years.
• Schoening was a four-year varsity player as a guard in basketball, and has signed to play at Eastern Washington. She hadn't played softball since her freshman year, but she opted to turn out again as a senior.
"All my friends from school are on the softball team," Schoening said. "It was something fun, something that would give me a little bit of a break from basketball."
Playing catcher is fun?
"We needed a catcher, and I caught before," she said, noting she caught once as a freshman, and also caught during ASA ball many years ago.
"I played outfield a few games and it was kinda boring, and I didn't get a lot of action. If anybody had watched me play basketball, I like to be out there and be in the action."
One thing that she hopes is over for good -- those grand mal seizures which have nagged her since seventh grade.
Her last one was Jan. 31 in the parking lot at Denny's.
"I'm going to a new doctor in Spokane now; he's getting me on new medication, so I hope it helps a lot," she said.
• Simon, a defensive stopper at guard, hasn't played much basketball since winning a state title in February -- unless you count the game of soccer basketball she plays with her brothers on a lowered hoop in the family's back yard.
The goal, as it were, is to put the soccer ball through the basketball hoop using soccer techniques.
She made it to one of the Region team's two practices thus far.
"I thought it would be terrible, but it wasn't as bad as I thought," Simon said.
Simon has signed to play soccer at BYU-Hawaii in Laie, Hawaii. She said she doesn't plan to also play basketball "as of right now."
While her Viking hoop teammates can boast two state titles, she can proudly display a third -- as a sophomore, she helped the girls soccer team win a state title.
"It was kind of a different feeling on each team, too," she said.
• Warbrick, like Reynolds 5-foot-5 but fearless, got sick just before the state tournament. She soldiered through the first two games, but three games in three nights proved too much, and she spent most of the title game on the bench.
"I just didn't have any legs at all; I so wanted to be out there," said Warbrick, who took all sorts of medications in an attempt to fight the illness. "I'd be dribbling down the court and I would go one way and the ball would go the other. I was thinking sit down, rest my legs a little bit, but being sick and trying to run up and down the court and trying to keep up with everybody totally drains your body."
Warbrick, scheduled to graduate Friday from North Idaho Christian School in Hayden, signed with NIC after also considering NAIA schools Carroll College and Lewis-Clark State, mostly because she wanted to stay close to home.
• They want to win, too: They've tweaked the format from the early years where it was strictly Idaho players vs. Washington players. But one thing has remained the same since the first game in 1994 -- the team with the Idaho players on it has never won.
"We definitely have the tools this year to do it," Baker said. "North Idaho basketball has come a long way in the last decade or so. I definitely think it's a matter of pride."
Dale Poffenroth of Coeur d'Alene, who will coach the Region team Monday night, previously coached at Central Valley for 17 seasons, winning three state championships there.
He has coached the Vikings to state in each of his five seasons in Coeur d'Alene. The Vikings played in the state title game each of the past four seasons, winning the last two.
"The success of North Idaho basketball can be attributed to more involvement in the summer by the coaches of each team," said Poffenroth, who said he hopes to coach the Vikings for several more seasons. "Since I came to Coeur d'Alene, every 5A school has been to more tournaments and summer league games than ever before. When I ran the summer league at CV, Post Falls came every year and Lake City every other year or so, but now they attend every year and also play in weekend tournaments. These repetitions that the players get improve them vastly.
"The gap between North Idaho and the GSL will be determined this year when we once again play each other on a regular basis. Coeur d'Alene could have competed with Lewis and Clark for the GSL title the last three years. I doubt either team would have been undefeated if we played each other two or three times a year. Last year I believe that our four teams were as good as the top four teams in the GSL. Will it be that way this year? Time will tell."
• Notes: The game will consist of two 20-minute halves. ... Teams must play man-to-man halfcourt defense in the first half. In the second half, anything goes. ... Players will be available for autographs and pictures on the court before the game from 6:30-7 p.m.
