Preseason Coaches Poll
1. Kellogg
T-2. Bonners Ferry
T-2. Timberlake
4. Priest River
Players to Watch:
McKennah Kronenberg, Timberlake
Ciara Soumas, Timberlake
Asha Abubakari, Bonners Ferry
Avery Bayer, Bonners Ferry
Mia Blackmore, Bonners Ferry
Hailey Cheney, Kellogg
Grace Nearing, Kellogg
Emma Vanhoose, Kellogg
Darian Hill, Kellogg
Macy Jerome, Kellogg
Emily Coe, Kellogg
Lilly Frietas, Priest River
Samantha Pound, Priest River
Written by: Chris Deremer
Going into the upcoming 2021 campaign, many teams aim to rewrite the script within the Intermountain League. For the past seven seasons, the story has ended the same. The Timberlake Tigers have proven time and time again to be the true powerhouse of the Intermountain League, not experiencing a single conference loss since 2014. For Bonners Ferry, Priest River, and Kellogg, they will look to take down the defending champions once again, but it won’t be an easy feat.
Coming off back to back state championships, the Tigers will head into the new season with almost an entirely new squad. Senior guard McKennah Kronenberg and junior guard Ciara Soumas will be relied on heavily as the new leaders for the new team. After losing seven seniors, head coach Matthew Miller hopes he can find the same success as he has found many times during his 17 seasons coaching Timberlake basketball. “It will be almost a completely different team than last year,” Miller said. “I hope that this team will be able to play with a competitive attitude and give a lot of effort on the court like previous Timberlake teams have done.”
One team looking to change the narrative within the Intermountain League will be the Bonners Ferry Badgers. The Badgers finished third in the IML last season and finished with a 14-9 record overall. Head coach Travis Hinthorn hopes to find more success heading into his 15th season. The Badgers return two young players who look to make a big jump during their sophomore season. Sophomores Asha Abubakari and Avery Bayer received All Intermountain League honors a season ago and will be key players for the Badgers once again this season. Coach Hinthorn says he is excited to see how his team will stack up with the rest of the league, with strong chemistry and a large pool of talent helping lead the way.
After finishing in second place last year, Kellogg head coach Jana Nearing and the rest of the Wildcats look to make that push to being first in league play. The Wildcats return six players from a season ago with all eyes on senior forward Hailey Cheney as she leads the way. After receiving All League honors last season as well as All State Second Team honors, Cheney aims to lead her squad to success while proving to everybody once again why she very well could be the best player in the IML this season. After not having any seniors on the team last season, Kellogg returns with four on the roster this year. Along with Cheney, senior guards Grace Nearing, Emma Vanhoose, and Darian Hill will look to step up and lead this team to a district championship by the end of the season.
On the opposite coin, the Priest River Spartans aim to continue to re-establish a winning culture within the program. Head Coach Gary Stewart returns for his 28th season coaching basketball, and 14th season with the girls varsity program. Coach Stewart will be assisted by his daughter, Morgan Douglas, who was a part of Priest River’s only state championship team back in 2010.
With many young faces returning for the Spartans, Coach Stewart understands the process needed to build this team into a contender. “Last year’s team had three seniors, zero juniors, three sophomores, and four freshmen. We improved tremendously, but are still a very young team that is a year away from being able to compete every night in our classification,” Stewart said. Two Spartans to keep a watch for will be junior guard Lilly Freitas and sophomore guard Samantha Pound. These are two gritty guards for the Spartans who are not afraid to give it their all on the defensive side of the ball.
This season of Intermountain League basketball should be one of the most competitive seasons in recent memory. While Kellogg and Bonners Ferry bring back many experienced faces from last season, this will still be Timberlake’s league until somebody finally dethrones the queen.