"BOISE — Back at the state girls basketball tournament for the first time in a decade, any hopes of a Lakeland upset run in 4A were quickly dashed by Caldwell at Timberline High on Thursday night. Lakeland jumped out to fast 4-0 lead, but saw Caldwell answer with a 23-0 run — with Jalen Callendar scoring eight of her game-high 16 points in that run — as the Cougars (20-5) beat the Hawks 44-21. “I think it was trying not to screw up,” Lakeland coach Steve Seymour said. “We knew they were really quick, and maybe I oversold their quickness, and maybe I put it in their heads that we had to take care of the ball. From the opening tip, we were fumbling. It was like we had a pointed basketball in the first quarter anyway.” Lakeland, the Region 1 champion, had 18 first-half turnovers. “They’re good too, but we made them a little better than they were,” Seymour said. “We would have had to play really well in order to be there, but we’re capable of playing better than that. We’re capable of taking care of the ball better than that. It was stuff we talked about. It’s tough, sometimes you’ve got to come down here and the kids have to go out and experience what the state tournament is like. And they’ve got to be able to bounce back from some adversity, and we didn’t do that in the game.” Katy Ryan, a 6-foot-4 sophomore post, had seven points, six rebounds and three blocked shots for Lakeland (10-12), which faces Hillcrest (13-11) in a loser-out game today at 2 p.m. PST. Caldwell — the District 3 runner-up — advances to a semifinal game tonight at 7 against Minico (17-8). “She had some rebounds, blocked some shots,” Seymour said of Ryan. “She gets the tar held out of her, pushed and it’s a lot more physical down here. She’s trying to get from block to block, and has two girls shoving at her. It’s a learning experience for her, and I wish it would have gotten to the free-throw line a little more. Some of those tricks are earned and learned in situations like these.” “We knew she was going to be a big presence inside,” first-year Caldwell coach Ashley Green said of Ryan. “We were going to have to be selective with our inside shots, and our outside shooting was going to have to be on. And I thought we attacked the basket OK, and our bread and butter is transition and getting out in the game.” Lakeland shot 9 of 40 from the field, 1 of 4 from the free-throw line. “I think we could have played better,” Ryan said. “I know we can, because we have before. We all just decided to let it go, and trust each other. We’ve got a lot to give tomorrow.” Caldwell, which won a game at state for the first time since 2001, outscored Lakeland just 13-12 in the second half. “It’s just one of those deals, and why couldn’t we have done this in the second half,” Seymour said. “They did a good job of pushing us out of our rhythm, but we should have shot better and should have taken care of the ball better. But we’ll get a chance to play again.” Caldwell 16 15 6 7 — 44 Lakeland 4 5 6 6 — 21 CALDWELL — Campos 2, Ju. Martinez 3, Ja. Martinez 5, Callendar 16, Vallejo 3, Bower 4, Strong 2, Moore 5, Campos 0, Williams 4, Kennedy 0. Totals 19-48 3-5 44. LAKELAND — Boyer 0, Cooper 3, Kim 0, Cooley 0, McDevitt 2, Elpers 4, Loutzenhiser 0, Kirk 2, Ryan 7, Pruitt 3, Neff 0. Totals 9-40 1-4 21." CDA Press full article ...

"POCATELLO — Savannah Kidwell, a sophomore from Lakeland High, finished runner-up at 120 pounds in the first all-girls state wrestling invitational on Saturday at Pocatello High. Kidwell wrestled sophomore Alex del Fierro from Timberline of Boise in the championship match, losing by an 8-4 decision."   CDA Press Full Article ...

" 4A Lakeland (10-11), in its first trip to state since 2009, opens vs. Caldwell (19-5) today at 5:15 p.m. PST at Timberline High in Boise. “We worked a lot harder this seaso...

" There were a couple last strings of the net to be cut Friday night in Hawk Gym in Rathdrum. And the Lakeland High girls basketball team knew who was just the person to cut them. “Seymour! Seymour! Seymour! Seymour! ... ” they chanted. Coach Steve Seymour briefly excused himself from a post-game interview, climbed the ladder and snipped the final two strings of the net, to the cheers of his players. It had been a long time since Seymour had been on a ladder, at least with a pair of scissors and a net to be cut down. It had been 10 years since Lakeland’s girls made it to state, and that drought came on the heels of a 10-year stretch where the Hawks made it to state every single year, twice winning the state championship. “It’s just a team that genuinely likes each other, and pretends to like me on occasion,” Seymour said, post snip, as someone nearby handed out treats. “I get a cookie every now and then ... ”   YOU HAVE to understand, Seymour’s humor is as dry as North Idaho’s winter was — at least prior to this month’s seemingly endless snow. Over the years, when he calls in results of his games to the newspaper, he sounds the same whether his team suffered an excruciating loss, or pulled out a dramatic victory. On Friday, with his players jumping up and down in joy on their way back to the bench following their breakthrough win, Seymour (and his assistant coaches) calmly came out to greet them on the floor, and quickly shooed away the onrushing students who wanted to celebrate with the players — knowing there was a time for that, and that was after the Hawks went through the handshake line with the Moscow players and coaches. That reaction was Seymour on the outside. Inside? Well, that might have been a different story. “I’m happy for the girls,” Seymour said. “I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was happy for the coaches, and I’m pretty happy myself.”   SEYMOUR, THE dean of North Idaho basketball coaches in his 24th season, took over the Lakeland program in 1995. The Hawks’ run of state tourney appearances began in 2000, included a state A-2 championship in 2001 and a repeat state title the following season in the renamed 3A division. Lakeland brought home the third-place trophy from state in 2004, its final year in 3A. The state trips continued the first five seasons after the Hawks moved up to 4A. Lakeland played in the state semifinals three of those years, but has been unable to bring home a trophy since its last year in 3A. After Lakeland’s last trip to state in 2009, the two other schools dominated the 4A Inland Empire League. Moscow won four straight Region 1 titles, and Sandpoint won the next five. This year? Lakeland won a league game for the first time since the 2011-12 season, and won an outright league title for the first time since the IML in 2003. “The tables kinda turned a little bit in the IEL,” Seymour explained. “Moscow and Sandpoint graduated their best players, and we had some of the best players we’ve had in years at their peak. Whether it’s (senior guard) Lauryn Cooper playing better than she’s ever played in her career in terms of leadership ... Mel Loutzenhiser (a junior guard) is a year older, and playing better ... ”   AFTER BEING a major player in A-2/3A for several years, and still competitive at the state level in 4A after the move up in classification, Lakeland struggled. In each the last six seasons, the Hawks won no more than five games. “Is it me?” Seymour wondered. “Are we running the wrong stuff? Have I lost the drive? All of that stuff. You can’t help but second-guess yourself when you go from qualifying 10 years in a row ... “We could still get to the district championship game on occasion against Sandpoint, but it took smoke and mirrors, and gimmick defenses,” he continued. “Sometimes you could get by the first round, and get one ... I didn’t realize how inept I was as a coach until I started reading your articles (chronicalling how long it had been since Lakeland won this, or accomplished that ... ) ... good God, no wonder some of those parents hated me.” He’s kidding ... we think. The players, at least, certainly didn’t sound that way. “He keeps the team together,” Lakeland senior Taylor Elpers said of Seymour. “He keeps us honest, and makes us play as a team — even when we don’t want to sometimes.” Says Seymour, “They’re just really good kids that work really hard, and they don’t mind us pushing them. And it’s good to go to Boise again.”   THIS YEAR’s state 4A tourney is at Timberline High in Boise, which was also part of the state 4A rotation the last time the Hawks were regulars at state. Lakeland last played at Timberline in the 2008 state tourney. In 2009, at Mountain View High in Meridian, Lakeland lost 62-55 in overtime in the state semifinals to Bonneville of Idaho Falls, a game that at the time seemed like the state championship game. Bonneville went on to beat Middleton the next day in the title game, and Lakeland lost to Jerome in the third-place game. Since then? Well ... Seymour (along with Deana Lange, who has coached in the program for 25 seasons and been his assistant coach/junior varsity coach for all of his 24 seasons) and the Hawks have tried to stay the course, and this year they’ve finally been rewarded. Indeed, this Hawks team plays together, has several experienced perimeter players that can shoot, handle the ball and play defense. And of course, it helps to have a lanky 6-foot-3 sophomore in the middle like left-hander Katy Ryan, a double-double threat who can control a game on defense even more than on offense. “I don’t think we deviated much from what we’ve always done,” Seymour said. “We kinda feel like this is our program, this is what we do. And if we don’t end up cutting down nets at the end of it, maybe what we do is still valuable to these kids.” Still, a couple snips of a net probably felt pretty good, whether he would say so or not. “It’s nice to have a little validation coming back after doing the same stuff,” Seymour added. “We’ve got kids that work really hard and maybe make a few more baskets, might be a little taller ... ” " CDA Press Full Article ...

"The 5-foot-3 senior guard helped the Hawks qualify for state last week for the first time since 2009, as they swept the Moscow Bears in a best-of-3 series for the 4A Region 1 championship. “She has worked hard to become a complete player and a team leader,” Lakeland coach Steve Seymour said. “Defensively, she’s as good as we have. Offensively, we ask her to pass first, but she has hit her share of big shots.” " CDA Press Full Article ...

" RATHDRUM — Senior Jaret Taylor hit three 3-pointers and scored a career-high 28 points on senior night, and the Lakeland Hawks edged the visiting Timberlake Tigers 79-78 in a wild nonleague game Wednesday night at Hawk Court. “I just thought he came out and played with great intensity,” Lakeland assistant coach Tyrel Derrick said of Taylor. “He’s been a leader in an up-and-down season.” Junior Ben Zubaly added 22 points and seven assists for Lakeland (7-10), in a game where five players total eclipsed the 20-point mark. Josiah Haaland had 14 points, Ammon Munyer nine rebounds, Noah Haaland eight rebounds. Jacob James made six 3-pointers (in eight attempts) and scored 24 points for Timberlake (7-12), which hit 13 3s and shot 68 percent from behind the arc. Chase Gardom had four 3s and also scored 24 points for the Tigers, and Dylan Kluss sank three 3s and scored 21. Taylor sank two free throws with 1.4 seconds left to put Lakeland up by 4. Kluss made a 3 at the buzzer for the final margin. Both teams are scheduled to wrap up their regular seasons tonight — Timberlake at home vs. Bonners Ferry in Intermountain League play, and Lakeland at Sandpoint in a 4A Inland Empire League tilt. Timberlake 23 11 21 23 — 78 Lakeland 18 13 24 24 — 79 TIMBERLAKE — Cramer 2, Kluss 21, McDonald 0, James 24, Kistler 7, Gardom 24, Dickinson 0. LAKELAND — Taylor 28, Zubaly 22, Seay 4, Munyer 4, N. Haaland 7, J. Haaland 14, Strietzel 0, Derrick 0." CDA Press Full Article ...

"RATHDRUM — This year’s seniors were in the second grade the last time the Lakeland Hawks qualified for the state high school girls basketball tournament. So the jubilation was particularly understandable Friday night, after top-seeded Lakeland fended off the third-seeded Moscow Bears 42-34 in Game 2 of the 4A Region 1 championship series at Hawk Court to win the best-of-3 series 2-0 and end that lengthy state tourney drought. “It feels great; I never thought I’d be here,” Lakeland senior guard Lauryn Cooper said. “Especially not my freshman year; I never thought we’d make it to state. It means a lot. I’m proud of my team, and I’m proud of how far we’ve come.” Lakeland (10-11) qualified for state for the first time since 2009. The Hawks will open state vs. Caldwell (19-5) on Thursday at 5:15 p.m. PST at Timberline High in Boise. “It’s been a while,” said Steve Seymour, in his 24th season as Lakeland coach. “We’ve had a lot of good kids come and go between the last time we won and now. They’ve worked as hard as anybody else ... and we got a couple pretty good basketball players this year to draw to. “We knew coming in we should have a good chance to win the district championship. But knowing and saying it coming in is different than being here cutting down the net at the end.” Sophomore Katy Ryan totaled 13 points, 14 rebounds and four blocked shots for Lakeland, which starts three seniors, a junior and a sophomore. At least three times Ryan blocked the shot and almost immediately rebounded it, and several times quickly outletted the ball for fast-break layups. Cooper added 10 points. Junior Mel Loutzenhiser had seven points despite missing part of the third quarter to get her right wrist bandaged after falling on while taking a charge in the second quarter. Senior Taylor Elpers had 10 rebounds to go with her four points. “It means everything,” said Elpers, a three-year varsity player and a first-year starter, of getting to state. “Basketball has always been my first love, and the past two years it just hasn’t worked out very well. But this year we put in a lot of work, and it really paid off.” Moscow, which started three juniors, a freshman and a senior, was led by Makena Rauch, a senior reserve who scored nine points. Junior Megan Watson added eight. With the 6-foot-3 Ryan holding down the fort in the middle of Lakeland’s zone defense, Moscow worked the ball around well, but settled mostly for outside shots. The Bears shot 13 of 53 from the field (24.6 percent). That included 24 3-point tries, of which Moscow hit just four (16.7 percent). Lakeland full-court pressed, and Moscow ran a half-court trap at times. The teams combined for 39 turnovers, 21 by Moscow. Lakeland was just 12 of 28 from the free-throw line, the Bears 4 of 10. Loutzenhiser scored six of her seven points in a 10-0 run in the first quarter that put Lakeland ahead for good. Cooper fed Izzy Kirk for a 3-pointer at the buzzer to boost the Hawks’ lead to 26-15 at the half. Lakeland led by as much as 12 in the second half. Moscow pulled within 37-31 on a 3 by Makena Rauch with 2 1/2 minutes left. The Bears got the ball back with just under 2 minutes left, but Cooper stole the inbounds pass, and the Hawks regained command. Lakeland was 14 of 43 (32.6 percent) from the field. Lakeland won Game 1 of the championship series on Tuesday, 51-37 at North Idaho College to earn home-court advantage for Game 2. Had Moscow won Friday night, the deciding game would have been tonight in Moscow. “We just wanted to finish it tonight, get it done with, so we could move on and start thinking about state, rather than another game with Moscow,” Cooper said. Moscow 9 6 7 12 — 34 Lakeland 14 12 6 10 — 42 MOSCOW — M. Watson 8, Rauch 9, Verlin 0, Claus 3, P. Watson 0, Anderson 4, Jung 5, Bazzoli 0, Hanson 5. LAKELAND — Cooper 10, Kime 0, McDevitt 0, Elpers 4, Loutzenhiser 7, Kirk 4, Ryan 13, Pruitt 4, Neff 0." Full Article CDA Press ...

" COEUR d’ALENE — Katy Ryan totaled 22 points, eight rebounds and nine blocked shots, and the top-seeded Lakeland Hawks started fast en route to a 51-37 victory over the third-seeded Moscow Bears in Game 1 of the best-of-3 4A Region 1 championship series Tuesday night at North Idaho College’s Rolly Williams Court. Lakeland (9-11) plays host to Moscow (8-14) on Friday at 6 p.m. in Game 2, needing one win to advance to state. If Moscow wins, Game 3 would be Saturday at Moscow. Lauryn Cooper hit two 3-pointers, Mel Loutzenhiser one in the first quarter for Lakeland, which jumped out to a 15-7 lead. The Hawks led 26-14 at the half. “We shot the ball a little better tonight,” Lakeland coach Steve Seymour said. “We did a good job of getting to the right spots defensively, and put a little more pressure on the ball. “And we rebounded pretty well,” he added. “Moscow rebounds a ton, they just go hard after the ball, and I thought we held our own in the first half.” Megan Watson, Peyton Claus and Megan Jung each scored eight points for Moscow, which closed to within seven points three minutes into the fourth quarter, before Loutzenhiser hit a 12-footer to curb the Bears’ momentum. Loutzenhiser finished with four assists, Cooper three steals. Moscow 7 7 9 14 — 37 Lakeland 15 11 8 17 — 51 MOSCOW — M. Watson 8, Rauch 3, Claus 8, P. Watson 2, Anderson 6, Jung 8, Bazzoli 0, Hansen 2. LAKELAND — Boyer 0, Cooper 9, Kime 0, Cooley 0, McDevitt 0, Elpers 5, Loutzenhiser 9, Kirk 6, Ryan 22, Neff 0." Full Article CDA Press ...

" MOSCOW — Ben Zubaly scored 14 points for the Hawks, who kept within reach in the first half before things got away in the second half of a 4A Inland Empire League loss to the Bears at Bear Den. Brayden Decker scored 22 points and Gabe Quinnett added 19 points for Moscow (13-3, 3-0 4A IEL), which clinched the league title with the win. “Decker put us on our heels and Quinnett does what he does,” Lakeland assistant coach Tom Neilson said. “Their pressure on us was very good tonight. We had a hard time moving the ball and getting it where we wanted. Ben did a good job of getting to the rim and moving the ball.” Lakeland (6-9, 1-2) travels to Lewiston on Saturday. Lakeland 11 12 14 5 — 42 Moscow 15 19 28 10 — 72 LAKELAND — Taylor 10, B. Zubaly 14, Seay 3, Henry 0, A. Munyer 4, N. Haaland 0, Strieztel 0, Ab. Munyer 0, Skalskiy 5, Derrick 0, J. Haaland 6. MOSCOW — Decker 22, Markison 0, Diego 0, Haeder 5, Quinnett 19, Rauch 5, Clary 0, Skinner 6, Postell 12, Ellis 0, Kitchel 6."   CDA Press Full Article ...

" SANDPOINT — The Bulldogs only managed two points in the first quarter and trailed by as many as 11 in the third, yet held the Hawks without a field goal over the final 9:32 en route to a 4A Inland Empire League victory at Les Rogers Court. Lakeland (8-11, 3-1) could have won its first outright league since the Intermountain League in 2003 — and still could, if Sandpoint loses at Moscow on Thursday. However, Lakeland still finished with the No. 1 seed to next week’s 4A Region 1 tournament. The Hawks would hold the tiebreaker over Sandpoint based on point differential in their head-to-head meetings — Lakeland beat Sandpoint by 14 points at home on Jan. 18. Lakeland sophomore Katy Ryan finished with a game-high 15 points and 10 rebounds. Alaina Pruitt contributed four points and eight rebounds off the bench. Dawson Driggs led Sandpoint (5-13, 2-1) with 14 points. Sandpoint and Moscow will play in the first round of regionals Monday at North Idaho College. Lakeland will play the winner on Tuesday at NIC in the first game of a best-of-three series, with the winner advancing to state. Lakeland 9 15 7 3 — 34 Sandpoint 2 13 11 12 — 38" CDA Press Full Article ...