Bonners Ferry seventh and eighth grade boys basketball teams take home district titles
The Bonners Ferry Middle School eighth grade boys' basketball team is all smiles after winning the district championship with a 54-47 home win over Kootenai Classical Academy on Saturday, March 15. Team members include: Dallin
Baisden, Brydin Weymer, Carson Schutte, Weston Cartwright-Kissee, Max Thompson, Myles McCulla, Brent Worley, Gordon Woelfle, Brecken Miller, Mark Elliston, Shane Rice and Reese Hull.
(Courtesy Photo)
BONNERS FERRY — The Bonners Ferry Middle School seventh and eighth grade boys basketball teams both recently won district tournaments.
The eighth grade team, coached by Greg Kissee, who is also an assistant to the high school's varsity team, led the Badgers to an 11-1 record this season. In the championship game, Bonners Ferry, led by Shane Rice's team-high 18 points, defeated the Kootenai Classical Academy by a score of 51-43. Gordon Woelfle collected 13 points, Brydin Weymer 12, and Dallin Baisden eight in the winning effort.
On the year, the eighth grade team defeated the following teams leading up to district championship: Priest River three times (36-22, 56-34, 52-39), Kellogg twice (48-25, 50-28), Timberlake twice (50-30, 46-31), St. Maries twice (42-25, 52-26) and the Kootenai Classical Academy once (54-47). Their only loss came to KCA by one point in their third game of the season — a loss they avenged in the title game.
The achievement is historic and may be a sign of things to come. Last season, this same team went 10-0 under coach Kissee as seventh graders. In what is a similar story to the current high school team, a majority of the players have been playing AAU basketball together with coach Kissee since the fifth grade and have dreams of winning a state championship of their own someday.
As good as the eighth grade team is, there's even more talent coming up through the ranks in Boundary County. The Bonners Ferry Middle School's seventh grade team also won a district title after a 13-0 season. The following athletes were a part of this accomplishment: Trevor Cordle, Warren Hummel, Benson Leach, Will Mackey, Owen Mellon, Strummer Ronniger, Cody Russell, Luke Scarborough, Baylor Sheets, Beck Simon, Nathan Stolley and Brody Swift.