Two years after near-cancellation, Kootenai High girls win district, advance to state

Kootenai High’s girls basketball team captured the 1A District 1 championship at North Idaho College last week, earning the Warriors a state berth for the first time since 2013. The 8th-seeded Warriors entered state with a 7-8 record and were scheduled to face top-seeded Salmon River of Riggins, 23-0, in a first-round game at Owyhee High in Meridian on Feb. 19 at 11 a.m. PST.

The district title capped a program turnaround that nearly didn’t happen two years ago. In late 2023, head coach Alyssa Liermann said school officials told her, “Honestly, we don’t have a team,” after the roster fell short. Liermann, who was pregnant and due Oct. 30, 2023, the day before the first day practice was supposed to begin, recalled the timing: “So I didn’t know how I was going to do it anyway,” and added, “We didn’t have enough girls and (school officials) said 'Honestly, we don’t have a team’ and I said 'Honestly, this is a really good maternity leave for me anyway.’ So it worked out perfectly.”

Liermann credited off-court work and buy-in for the rapid rebuild. “It’s a big deal to have gotten them to this point,” she said. “We have done a lot of mental work; the girls have really bought into the mental, team side of it. We’ve all built really strong relationships this year to get us to this point.” Assistant coach Emma Gustin is listed among the staff pictured with Liermann in Coeur d’Alene Press coverage that showed the team donning shades after the championship win.

The district championship also reverberates against Kootenai’s deeper history. From 1997–2008 the Warriors made 11 state appearances and brought home a consolation championship in the 16-team 1A tournament in 2004. Many of those teams were coached by Doug Napierala, who now serves as Kootenai High’s athletic director; the program’s return to state snaps a drought that lasted since the 2013 appearance.

Kootenai’s state draw matched a 7-8 Warriors squad against a dominant Salmon River program out of Riggins, a top seed that ran to state at 23-0. The matchup at Owyhee High in Meridian presented a classic underdog test for the Warriors as they looked to extend the turnaround that began as a near-cancellation two years earlier.

Across the region, Salish Kootenai College’s women’s program also drew attention this season. The Lady Bison went 14-1, avenged a long buzzer-beater loss to Northwest Indian College with a 15-point win the following day, and last year finished third at the AIHEC tournament after a semifinal loss to Chief Dull Knife College. Coach and athletic director Melissa Tiensvold said, “It’d be good to get more of the local kids here,” as she looks to sustain the program’s success.

Kootenai’s district trophy and state qualification mark a tangible revival for a program with deep roots in Kootenai County. As Liermann put it after the district final, “It actually worked out perfectly for me,” and the team’s relationships and mental preparation have pushed the Warriors back onto the state stage.