Players to Watch:
Karstyn Kiefer, Lakeland
Landree Simon, Lakeland
Avery Lathen, Lewiston
Addy McKarcher, Lewiston
Addi Lassen, Moscow
Jessa Skinner, Moscow
Brecken Mire, Sandpoint
Jordyn Tomco, Sandpoint
Written by: Brandon Baney
The 5A Inland Empire League race figures to be a nail-biter this season. Need more convincing? Just take a look at the resume of last year’s district champion from Lakeland. Against their IEL contemporaries, Sandpoint and Moscow, the Hawks alternated between narrow wins and tight losses.
After defeating Moscow 56-44 in Rathdrum, the Hawks needed overtime to slip past the Bears in Moscow, winning 47-42. The Hawks then defeated Moscow 55-42 in the do-or-die district tournament opener.
How about Sandpoint? After falling to the Bulldogs twice in the regular season by a combined 11 points (53 to 50, 49 to 41), the Hawks swept Sandpoint by scores of 47-43 and 42-35 to take the best-of-three district championship series.
It was a stunning collapse for Sandpoint. After winning the state championship in 2023, the Bulldogs failed to even return to state in 2024.
With all of that drama serving as a backdrop ahead of the 2024-25 season, complicating matters is the dropdown of Lewiston from the Class 6A ranks. The Bengals’ addition now makes the 5A IEL a four-team race to the top.
Lakeland returns the IEL MVP from a year ago in smooth-shooting six-foot senior Landree Simon. She’s flanked by junior point guard Karstyn Kiefer and a pair of sophomores (Addi Forsman and Macy Bretveld) who saw extensive playing time as freshmen a year ago. They’ll be led by first year coach Caelyn Caufield, who replaces Tyrel Derrick.
Sandpoint also figures to be right in the mix this year, just as they were in 2023-24. A knee injury to starting point guard Aliyah Strock derailed Sandpoint’s momentum last season, as the Bulldogs struggled to replace her scoring and leadership, outside of forward Karlie Banks. Strock is now playing basketball at the College of Southern Idaho, and Banks has also moved on, taking her talents to Division I Utah State University.
However, veteran coach William Love does welcome back a pair of three-year varsity members (seniors Demi Driggs and Chloe Laybourne). Both will start on the wing, and were pivotal contributors to the Bulldogs’ state title team as sophomores in 2023.
But the real optimism in Sandpoint surrounds sophomores Brecken Mire and Jordyn Tomco. Each started for Sandpoint a year ago as freshmen, and coach Love says the pair has played in tournaments all over the country this spring and summer.
“I’m excited to see how we can progress as a team over the season,” says Love. “We have some real basketball talent, but we are young grade-wise. If we can gel as a team, this group could be very competitive at the end of the season.”
Sandpoint runs a unique offense that relies on concepts rather than set plays, which could lead to some on-the-job training early on. “With the conceptual offense we run, it might take a while to gel since we have several newcomers to the varsity level,” says Love. “(From) what I’ve seen in practice, I’m optimistic about our ceiling as the season progresses.”
Another concern for Love is how the Sandpoint defense will develop. “Generally, we played solid defense last year,” says Love. “One thing we need to do, however, is improve our ability to score off of turnovers.”
“Rebounding will be key as well. We are not a big team,” Love adds.
In Moscow, second-year coach Josh Colvin brings back several standouts from last year’s squad. The most significant losses came in the backcourt, where starting point guard Punk Knott and starting shooting guard Maya Anderson will have to be replaced.
Coach Colvin says, “We have three speedy guards in Betty Becker, Kolbi Kiblen and Addi Lassen.” That troika will complement a pair of six-foot junior posts in Jacque Williams and Jessa Skinner. Their potential has caught the attention of other league coaches.
“Moscow has several varsity players returning that contributed last year, and they had an athletic JV team,” says Love. “Josh has to be excited about this group, especially entering Year Two of his system.”
Lewiston is the 5A newcomer, moving down a classification level due to declining enrollment numbers. Second-year coach Julie Fisher lost the only All-League player Lewiston had last year, as Reese DeGroot transferred to Clarkston High School, just across the border in Washington.
The Bengals will also be without the services of starting guard Bree Albright. The senior injured her ACL this summer while playing club ball, but Fisher is hopeful Albright can return for the second half of the season. “Bree plays hard, shoots the ball well, and rebounds really well,” says Fisher.
In the meantime, Lewiston will lean on senior center Addy McKarcher and sophomore point guard Avery Lathen to lead the way.
Another sophomore, Emery McKarcher, will start at shooting guard. “We expect big things from Emery to come in and be a shooter for us,” says Fisher.