From no expectations to No. 1 seed, the Lake City girls hope to end memorable journey with Class 5A championship

You would think a team that is the No. 1 overall seed going into the Class 5A state girls basketball championships would feel pressure. Especially if it’s been 15 years since the last state title.

But that isn’t the case for the Lake City High School, out of Coeur d'Alene. That’s because outside of themselves, few pegged the Timberwolves to even be in this position.

Top-seeded Lake City (20-3) will make its first appearance at state since 2019 when it plays No. 8 Rocky Mountain (12-13) at noon Thursday inside the Ford Idaho Center.

"I’m in the building with our boys team (last year’s state runner-up) and I know what that looks like. They have expectations and pressure. And maybe that’s taken a little bit off of us," Lake City girls coach James Anderson said. "I don’t think anybody would have picked us after last season."

The reasons were many.

The Timberwolves graduated one of the best players in program history in 6-foot-4, multiple-time all-state selection Brooklyn Rewers, who is now playing for Michigan State University. They also only returned two players, and had qualified for state just three times over the previous 11 seasons.

Not that long ago, Lake City finally seemed to be on the rise. It won the state consolation title during Rewers’ sophomore year.

But a big senior class left the cupboard bare. The Timberwolves still posted winning seasons in each of the next two years, but faded down the stretch. They dropped back-to-back games last year, and three of four at districts in 2020 to end up watching the playoffs from home.

"I don’t necessarily want to make excuses, but we had a lot of health issues the last two years," Anderson said. "Winning takes a lot of luck. To win a state title, you have to be good, but you also have to be extremely lucky. And it just seemed like everything unraveled at the end of the last two years when we were hoping to play our best basketball.

"You could just sense in the kids that they were absolutely not going to let that happen again."

With all-Inland Empire League senior guard Kendall Pickford, returning sophomore guard Sophia Zufelt and seven other newcomers on a team that went 28-0 in summer league, Lake City jumped out to a 13-0 start.

The highlight was a runner-up showing at the prestigious Tarkanian Classic in Las Vegas.

"We kind of knew this year that this team was going to be a special team," Pickford said. "We have a lot of players that truly love playing basketball and come every day willing to get better. We’re a smart and selfless basketball team who all make plays for each other."

So the question turned to, could they win when it mattered most?

In order to do so, the Timberwolves were going to have to get past the one team that had their number. Perennial powerhouse and city rival Coeur d’Alene High School, which was the No. 1 team in the state at one point this season, swept them during the regular season, including a 14-point triumph in early January, to extend the series winning streak to seven games.

However, Lake City's losing streak finally came to end via a 63-57 victory in last week's district finals. It gave the Timberwolves their first district championship in three years.

"Our team definitely needed that win," Pickford said. "Everyone in the locker room was all excited and happy. I won it freshman year, but this year, holding that trophy up just felt different."

This is a different team than in year’s past.

The Timberwolves have three sophomores in the lineup - and almost four players averaging double figures in scoring.

Zufelt leads the team with 10.9 points per game. But Pickford, who is signed to play at Arizona Christian and broke the school’s single-season 3-point record of 59, is right behind her at 10.7. Pickford is at 68 3-pointers and counting, is shooting 37% from downtown and leads the team in assists at 4.7

Junior center Emberlyn Reynold is at 10.0 points and leads the team in rebounding (4.8), while 6-foot-2 sophomore Avery Waddington is just shy at 9.6 points and even Pickford’s younger sister, sophomore Kamryn Pickford, has gotten in on the action with 7.5 ppg.

Lake City has had seven different leading scorers this year.

"It’s been awesome because it relieves a lot of pressure on certain players. It’s a new player stepping up every game. So it’s super cool to see who that player is going to be or who those multiple players are going to be," Kendall Pickford said. "For scouting, teams just can’t scout one person, they have to guard all five of us on the court because we can all make plays."

Now the Timberwolves will look to get over another hump. 

They haven’t won a first-round game since 2007 - their last state championship.

However, like being the No. 1 seed, Lake City isn’t giving it that much thought either. 

"I honestly have no idea what the history is," Anderson said. "I don’t think that makes a difference. It’s interesting information. But what has or what hasn’t happened in 15 years is the last thing I’m going to worry about talking about.

"We’re not really looking forward or backward. We’ve got to where we are by being really good at focusing on the present and what we can control in each game."

(Photo courtesy of Kendall Pickford)