Weekly primer: High school basketball in full swing as holiday season starts

Now that you've stuffed yourself full of turkey and probably gorged on all this fixings this past weekend, you can fully focus your attention on the stretch run of the year.

What does that mean? Of course, buying gifts for the ones you care about, no matter what holiday tradition you celebrate. What else does it mean? High school basketball is just getting into full swing.

As we prepare to enter the month of December (seriously? This year has either went by too fast, or we've lived about 11 years in 11 months), the area hardwood action will be hitting its fever pitch as this begins the first full week of boys' and girls' hoops action.

Plus wrestling and boys' swimming in Washington state is just beginning.

There's a total of 62 basketball games scheeduled to be played in the area this week. Here's a closer look at that, and the rest of the winter sports for the week ahead:

Boys' basketball

The sport kicks into full gear this week with a total of 28 games, beginning with Monday's nonleague season opener pitting Timberline at Clearwater Valley at 6 p.m.

Plenty of action takes place Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, with five or more games taking place each day.

Highlights include Kamiah at Grangeville and Potlatch playing at Deary on Tuesday.

The Loggers-Mustangs game has some intrigue to it. Potlatch is returning everyone after going 0-fer a year ago, while Deary dominated the Whitepine League Division II standings in 2020-21 until the district tournament, when it was upset twice in the championship round by the Spartans.

Thursday sees Pullman opening its season in a 7 p.m. nonleague game at Colfax. The Greyhounds get back on the court after a successful pandemic-shortened spring season in which they won the Class 2A Greater Spokane League district title June 16 by beating Clarkston, which opens Friday at Freeman.

Also that day, Deary visits Genesee in another interesting crossover game.

The schedule Friday includes Lewiston's season-opener at Borah. The Bengals probably are champing at the bit for a shot at the state tournament this season after concluding a pretty successful 2020-21 campaign that saw them go 12-7 overall, 7-4 in the Inland Empire League and getting to the Class 5A state play-in game.

Defending state champion Lapwai begins its season that day in a nonleague game at St. Maries, and it should be a dandy. The Wildcats finished 20-4 and won the Class 1A Division I state championship, while the Lumberjacks went 23-1 and claimed the Class 2A state title with a 51-50 win against Ambrose.

Saturday has Lewiston at Boise, which placed fourth a year ago in the Class 5A state tournament. The day also features the first two Whitepine League Division I games of the season, with Lapwai at Logos at 2:30 p.m. and Genesee at Clearwater Valley at 7:30 p.m.

Girls' basketball

Heavy schedules dot Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday this week as 32 of 34 games will be played on those days.

Clearwater Valley, which at 3-0 is off to a solid start, will be able to prove its chops early as it takes on defending Class 1A Division I state tournament participant and state powerhouse Lapwai on the road. The Rams have played and won their lone league game of the season, a 49-43 decision Nov. 19 at Potlatch.

Prairie plays at Kamiah in teams that have combined to win its first three contests.

On Thursday, Pullman and Colfax will open their seasons against each other at 6 p.m. at Colfax. The Wildcats also will hit the road for the first time this season, playing at 7 p.m. at Potlatch.

Moscow and Lewiston tentatively are scheduled to play at 7 p.m. Friday at Lewiston, but there were some discussions the game might get moved.

Also that day, defending Class 2A Greater Spokane League district champion Clarkston opens its season at 7 p.m. at Freeman. No longer do the Bantams have standout Ashlyn Wallace, but don't fret fans of the team, because there's plenty of talent returning from last year's 14-0 run. That includes sophomore guard Kendall Wallace, Ashlyn's sister, as well and seniors Erika Pickett, Maggie Ogden and Alyssa White.

Saturday sees Genesee taking on Clearwater Valley in Whitepine League Division I action, and Nezperce playing at Timberline in WPL Division II play.

Wrestling

Potlatch will host a triangular with Kellogg and McCall on Friday before conducting the annual multi-team Dick Griswold Invitational at 9 a.m. Saturday.

Lewiston and Moscow will be participating in a pair of events this weekend. The Bengals and Bears will send most of their respective teams to the Donnelley Duals, formerly known as the Buck's Bags Invitational. The event starts at 4 p.m. Friday and continues at 8 a.m. Saturday at Capital High School.

The girls' wrestlers from those respective schools also will be competing in the Ardis Elizabeth Nash Memorial at 9 a.m. Saturday at Homedale High School. The event is a double-elimination tournament in all weight classes.

Pullman and Colfax are set to wrestle a dual at 7 p.m. Friday.

Boys' swimming

Pullman also is scheduled to conduct a three-team home meet at 4 p.m. Friday against Prosser and Grand View. Coach Amy Ripley is hoping the success the Greyhounds had on the girls' team can translate into the winter boys' season. Pullman's girls team won the Class 2A state title Nov. 13 at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.

Avista hoops tournament plans

As of now, the annual Avista Holiday Tournament is a go.

The tournament is set for Dec. 28-30 at Lewis-Clark State's Activity Center.

The girls' field seems to be set, but the boys' field needs two more teams, according to coordinator Mike Tatko.

The plan is for eight games each day, alternating between the girls' and boys' field. Some of the consolation games Dec. 30 could be played at Lewiston and Clarkston high schools.

The finals for the tournament are scheduled for the late afternoon/early evening Dec. 30.

Capsule information

We are asking all boys' basketball and wrestling coaches to please submit their questionaires that were sent out in the middle of October to sports@lmtribune.com by Tuesday. The season previews for each sport will run in Thursday's print edition.

If you have not received your packet yet from your AD, please reach out to me or to the above email address so we can promptly send that to you and have you return it to us with a roster and an updated schedule. It is vitally important we have this information for inclusion.

Walden may be reached at (208) 848-2258, dwalden@lmtribune.com, or on Twitter @waldo9939.