‘Hungry for a championship:’ 6 area teams primed for Idaho state girls basketball tournament action

Genesee girls basketball coach Greg Hardie has been running the same system on the court for 30 years.

So he is not surprised that his Bulldogs find themselves as the No. 1 seed in the Idaho 1A State tournament, which begins today at Nampa High School.

The Genesee Bulldogs, Prairie Pirates, Grangeville Bulldogs and Salmon River Savages each won their respective district tourneys while the Lapwai Wildcats and Nezperce Nighthawks won at-large bids to round out the Tribune area’s teams set to begin their state tournament journeys today.

Genesee’s success

Led by seniors Monica Seubert and Kendra Meyer and junior Chloe Grieser, the Bulldogs’ first year in a new classification has been close to perfect.

Genesee is 20-1 overall and was 10-0 in the 1A Whitepine League. Despite the league shift, Genesee played old rivals now classified as 2A such as Lapwai and Kamiah in nonleague meetings.

Hardie said Genesee’s 65-43 win on Jan. 17 over Kamiah was the point in the season where he saw his team click.

Not that they were not clicking before. The Bulldogs’ lone loss was 63-52 to Lapwai.

Hardie admitted that it was nice to not have to deal with the Whitepine League juggernauts of Prairie (Cottonwood) and Lapwai to reach State.

Both schools are back in the dance, with the Pirates having won the district title for the first time in 12 years.

Hardie also noted that the Tribune did not mention Genesee as a possible league title contender in a preseason preview of the girls basketball season.

“We flew under the radar a good bit of the year until this last couple of weeks, maybe,” Hardie said. “They just go out and play hard every night, that’s what I’m most proud of. Can’t ask for any more than that — your best effort every night.”

Genesee will face 1A WPL foe Nezperce in the first round at 4 p.m. Pacific today at Nampa High School.

Hardie said it is hard to beat a team four times, but that is what Genesee will try to do, having swept the Nighthawks in the regular season and in the district title game.

“Never quite know what to expect when you’re in a tournament situation. All kinds of things can happen,” Hardie said. “So we’re just going to go down and play hard, do our best.”

Storybook year for Prairie

The Pirates of Class 2A were 20-2 overall and 13-1 in their league. Prairie’s lone league loss was a 50-46 defeat at Lapwai.

However, Prairie beat Lapwai at home and in the district championship. It was the first time that Prairie beat Lapwai in the district title in 13 years.

The Pirates are built from the inside out with dominant post players Sage Elven and Kylie Schumacher providing the treasure to the Pirates’ offense.

“They understand the game and they’re super competitors,” Prairie coach Lori Mader said. “They hate to lose and they want to get better each night. I think they challenge each other a lot in practice.”

Senior guard Lexi Schumacher, Kylie Schumacher’s cousin, is the Pirates’ top scorer.

“We just have really good leadership with our seniors,” Mader said. “Kids are really focused, they’re all heart, they’re all in it to win it.”

Mader recorded her 300th career victory this season. It’s a feat she opted not to talk about directly, focusing instead on the kids in her program and the opportunity to coach them.

“The best part is living in my hometown,” Mader said. “I was a state champion, I was a player of the year. I hope they grab my knowledge more than my years.”

Mader and the Pirates are well-versed in postseason play, qualifying for State year in and year out. Prairie finished third at State last year and only got better in the new state classification format.

The second-seeded Pirates will play seventh-seeded Liberty Charter at 1 p.m. Pacific today at Columbia High School.

“We’ve been in that second-place game a ton of times,” Mader said. “I would say for us and for me, I want to go bring that banner home.”

Grangeville standard

The 3A Bulldogs (16-6) qualified for State for the seventh straight year.

After beating Lewiston and playing Clarkston close at the Avista Tournament in Lewiston, and beating Timberlake in overtime, Grangeville coach Michelle Barger said she knew her team was bound for success.

Post Madalyn Green and guards Caryss Barger and Siena Wagner lead the Grangeville attack.

Green, the Bulldogs’ 6-foot-2 senior post, who is committed to Lewis-Clark State, is a left-handed threat in the paint.

“They’re gonna double on her,” Michelle Barger said. “When they do, (we’ve) got Caryss Barger, Addisyn Vanderwall, (Autumn) Long, Siena Wagner.”

Grangeville will face Ririe in the first-round game, at 6 p.m. Pacific today at Bishop Kelly High School in Boise.

It’s a team it lost to earlier in the season, but Barger believes that her team is fully capable of winning this time around.

“We pretty much won in every category except shooting percentage,” Michelle Barger said.

Grangeville has maintained a consistent State streak thanks in large part to the approximately 18 games they play in the summer between various college-hosted camps and other travel ball opportunities.

“I think the girls are just hungry for a championship,” Barger said.

Other area teams in the dance

The Lapwai girls are back in the state tournament for the 25th straight year. Owners of 11 state championships, the most in Idaho’s history, the Wildcats have a standard of success that second-year coach Josh Leighton has maintained.

After all, his Lapwai boys basketball teams won two banners in 2000 and 2002.

The Wildcats are led by juniors Madden Bisbee and Skylin Picard. Lapwai beat Prairie on its home floor but lost to the Pirates in the district final.

2A Lapwai will face fourth-seeded Butte County at 6 p.m. Pacific today as the No. 5 seed.

1A Salmon River of Riggins went 16-6 overall but beat Tri-Valley 38-31 on Feb. 12 to clinch a berth to State.

The Savages’ defense was savage, holding Tri-Valley to 11 points in the first half of the district title game.

Rylee Walters and Taylor Ewing spearhead the Salmon River effort.

Fifth-seeded Salmon River will face fourth-seeded Dietrich at 6 p.m. Pacific at Nampa High School.

The 1A Nezperce Nighthawks went 11-10 overall and lost to Genesee, their first-round opponent, three times.

“They definitely improved toward the end of the season,” Hardie said of the Nighthawks. “I think they’re playing their best basketball, so I’m sure they’re happy to be down there, whoever they’re playing.”

Washington state tournaments taking shape

The Washington girls basketball state tournaments are yet to be formalized with various district championships, crossovers and play-in games yet to be played.

Garfield-Palouse has clinched a spot in the 1B state tournament but is playing for seeding. The Vikings will face Wilbur-Creston-Keller at 1:30 p.m. Friday in Wellpinit, Wash.

Colton will play Inchelium at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Wellpinit, Wash in a state play-in game.

Clarkston plays at Deer Park at 5:30 p.m. today for the 2A Greater Spokane League district title and will play at least one more game after that for a chance at State.

Colfax next plays Freeman at 5:30 p.m. Friday in Spokane Valley in the consolation bracket of its district tournament.

Taylor can be reached at 208-848-2268, staylor@lmtribune.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @Sam_C_Taylor.