Silver Valley Sports: Jan. 1 – 7
KELLOGG WRESTLING
NAMPA –– Junior Izzy Davis (145 lbs) navigated her way to the quarterfinals of the Rollie Lane Invitational at the Ford Idaho Center, but was pinned by eventual third-place finisher Mackenzie Shearon of Redmond, Oregon.
Davis dropped into the consolation bracket and was working her way toward a rematch with Shearon, but lost in a sudden victory overtime period to Owyhee’s Elena Guerena.
Davis was the only Wildcat who competed at the regional tournament.
Results:
Round 1 - Davis (Kellogg) 16-2 received a bye
Round 2 - Davis won by fall over Brie Riggs (Hanford)
Round 3 - Davis won by fall over Abi Lee (Idaho Falls)
Quarterfinal - MacKenzie Shearon (Redmond) won by fall over Davis
Cons. Round 6 - Davis won by fall over Brooklyn Quigg (Walla Walla)
Cons. Round 7 - Elena Guerena (Owyhee) won in sudden victory over Davis
MULLAN GIRLS BASKETBALL
- 1/4
Lakeside JV 33 Mullan 11
MULLAN — Sophomore Fawn Abrahamson scored nine points for the Knights JV in a win over the Tigers at the Mullan Pavilion.
Junior Arianna Lowley scored eight points for Lakeside, which hosts Bonners Ferry on Saturday.
Sophomore Avah Blankenship scored six points for Mullan,
LakesideJV 9 7 11 8 — 33
Mullan 0 4 5 2 — 11
LAKESIDE JV — Gorr 1, Lowley 7, Hodgson 2, Matt 4, Nomee 2, A. Hendrickx 4, Abrahamson 9, C. Hendrickx 0, Stensgar 4.
MULLAN — Crandall 0, Blankenship 6, Niemi 0, Bosson 2, Kostelich 0, Charvez 3, Elliott 0.
MULLAN BOYS BASKETBALL
- 1/4
Lakeside JV 48 Mullan 37
MULLAN — Lorrell Mitchell and Jayden Pluff scored a game-high 13 points each for the Knights JV in a win over the Tigers at the Mullan Pavilion.
Senior Stephen Petit scored 12 points for Mullan, which travels to the Kellogg JV on Thursday.
“It was probably the best game we’ve played as far as a complete four quarters,” Mullan coach Paul Elston said. “In that third quarter, Lakeside just hit a few more shots than we did. I really liked what our kids did and we played our most complete game, even though we lost. Lakeside’s a really good program.”
LakesideJV 9 11 17 11 — 48
Mullan 11 10 9 7 — 37
LAKESIDE JV — Brown 5, Pluff 13, Brown-Sonder 0, Nomee 4, Mitchell 13, Jones 8, Ironcloud 0, Aldrich 2, Mullens 2.
MULLAN — Petit 12, Rupp Connors 8, Appiah 10, Imes 0, L. Petit 7, Calvert 0, Knoll 0.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Big Week For Area Teams – If The Weather Allows It
By JOSH McDONALD
It seems like every year there is a “prove it” week for at least one of our local high school teams during the winter season.
Sometimes it’s nothing more than just scheduling, but there are also times when the unpredictable North Idaho weather forces things to change - creating even more chaos.
This week, we could see both.
At the time of writing, the region is currently under a severe weather warning that is expected to pound the higher elevations – which keeps us in Shoshone County locked between two mountain passes.
Open dates, conflicting gym times, the availability of officials, as well as making sure that student-athletes are spending equitable time in the classroom.
Basketball is one of the more travel-intensive sports during the year, by the sheer volume of games and trips. Wrestling, on the other hand, seems to have fewer trips, but they’re often long trips that include overnight stays.
Wallace and Mullan only have basketball teams, which does make things a little easier on their respective athletic directors, but not much.
We’ll start with the relatively tame side of things – The Mullan boys are slated for a single game this week, a Thursday night tilt against the Kellogg JV squad, a game where travel shouldn’t be impacted and if it was there is zero consequence to it being canceled. Mullan’s girls are going to attempt the (normally) four-hour trip to Weippe, to take on Timberline tonight – that one may be a challenge if the snow flies.
Wallace’s girls, who played Post Falls JV last night, will have the week to prepare for a road conference matchup with the Genesis Prep Jags on Friday.
The Wallace boys are in the same boat with two games this week, with one nonconference game early and then a Scenic Idaho League foe on Friday.
They are scheduled to host Kootenai tonight, and then travel with the girls to Post Fall on Friday to take on Genesis Prep.
Should the weather get hairy early in the week, the Kootenai game seems like it could be a relatively easy reschedule for Wallace AD Corey Miller, as long as the weather doesn’t also affect Friday’s game.
So far, it feels like Wallace and Mullan could dodge any potential major shakeups and continue their seasons as scheduled.
Kellogg Wrestling has some flexibility this week with two scheduled events, a mix-and-match event on Tuesday in Coeur d’Alene, and then the River City Duals in Post Falls on Saturday.
The mix-and-match event is great for the wrestlers, but it’s small potatoes compared to the River City Duals – which is one of the premier events in the region.
This is where the simplicity ends.
It’s prove-it week for Kellogg Basketball.
Beginning Tuesday night, the Wildcat boys and girls will play three league games in five days.
Beginning with home contests with St. Maries on Tuesday, and then an overnight road trip on Friday and Saturday to take on Grangeville and Orofino respectively.
Grangeville is one of the top 2A girls teams in the state, and while Jana Nearing and the Lady Wildcats have shown that they are definitely up to the task, it’s a pretty steep climb.
The boys team is off to a middling start as coach Mike Martin is navigating the waters of an exceptionally young roster – even with a 1-0 record in the Central Idaho League, this week will go a long way in shaping how the wide open CIL shakes out at the end of the season.
Both teams staring down the barrel of a busy week, long bus trip, potentially wild weather, and three conference games in five days is going to be a lot for anyone.
The caveat here… These tough schedules are what shape champions.
Should the weather force these games to be moved, it could alter the course of the rest of the season for both teams.
If next Sunday comes and the Wildcats don’t miss a single game, that will be a success in and of itself. If they come out of the other side with two or three wins each, I know some coaches who will be fairly pleased.
But there’s a lot of time between here and then, and a lot to prove.