Lakeland high school students are finally returning to the classroom after winter break. 

The girl’s varsity basketball team remained busy over the two weeks with games, facing Riverside, St. George’s, and Sandpoint. 

The girls defeated Riverside and St. George’s but fell 59-40 in the third game against the Bulldogs.

“In the first two games, we talked a lot on defense, and we moved the ball around well. Against Sandpoint, we got in our heads, and when that happens, it’s hard to bring ourselves back up,” said sophomore Landree Simon. 

The Hawk’s next game is set for Jan. 13 in Moscow. The Bears have a current record of 4-9 as they face Lakeland for the first time this season. 

“When we play Sandpoint next, we need confidence as a team,” said Simon. 

Many players are looking forward to the next game against Sandpoint, known as Battle for the Paddle. The battle between both schools will take place on Jan. 20. 

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The Lakeland Hawks boy’s basketball team has made substantial progress this season. With Caysen Loutzenhiser returning to the team, the Hawks have a special presence on the defensive side of the ball that they look to impose in the upcoming games. 

The Hawks played the Pullman Greyhounds on December 27 at the West Valley Holiday tournament. Pullman is the top team in the state of Washington and handled the Hawks with ease, winning 97-50. Jaedyn Brown scored 35 points leading his Greyhounds to victory. 

“With their roster, there was no way for us to even come close to Pullman,” said Scotty Hocking. 

“We played the best first half of basketball that we have all year. Losing by ten at half to the best team in Washington felt good since we were within reach of coming back,” said Nick Nowell. 

“We played with fluency and teamwork and just weren’t able to overcome the fatigue in the second half. They started both halves with a dunk, flipping the momentum.”

Nowell scored a team-leading 12 points. 

In the next game of the tournament, the Hawks fell to the Davenport Gorillas, 74-45.

“Against Davenport, we did not play well. We fell apart in the second half due to a lack of effort and grit on the defensive end,” Nowell added.  

The Sandpoint Bulldogs defeated the Hawks at Hawk court in a close, low-scoring matchup. The Hawks had a poor offensive performance but stayed in the game due to stellar defense. 

“We were pretty even in the stat book, and the game was overall well-matched. We made six fewer threes than them which were ultimately the deciding factor in the loss,” Hocking said. 

“Two weeks ago, we would’ve lost by 20 to that team. We have come a long way as a team, and there is no way we’re losing the paddle. We aren’t at the point where we hope to be, but our improvement has been impressive.”

Collin Cameron said that the Sandpoint game was the best defensive performance of the season so far. He added that Sandpoint’s shooting ability makes them underrated. 

“Our defense has drastically improved. Nobody gives up, and we play whistle to whistle,” Hocking said. 

“The easiest part of our schedule is coming up, and these next four games could get us some momentum before playing Moscow. We need more confidence coming into each game.”

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Over Christmas break, the Lakeland Hawks wrestling team competed in two different tournaments. The Chad E Ross Memorial tournament took place on Dec. 30, 2022. The Hawks had 16 wrestlers’ place in the tournament. The Hawks also ended up being the Chad E Ross Memorial tournament champions as they pulled ahead of the Kellogg Wildcats in the final moments of the tournament. The second tournament took place on Jan. 6-7 in Nampa, Idaho, at the Rollie Lane Invitational tournament. This is the biggest competition of the season for the Hawks. There were a total of 180 teams that competed in the tournament and over 1250 wrestlers. The Hawks had five out of the 11 wrestlers make it to day two with a chance to place in the tournament. The Hawks had two wrestlers place at Rollie Lane. Jarren Knopp placed 6th in the 106-pound boy’s division, and Allyssa Foreman took 5th place in the 126-pound girl’s division. The Hawks will compete at the River City Duals tournament at Post Falls high school on Jan. 13-14.