Back on the bench

There is a new old coach at the helm of Lady Hawk basketball, and that coach, Chadd Laws is excited about his new job.

Not exactly a stranger to sports fans in these parts, Laws served as the head boys basketball coach at Thompson Falls from 2000 through 2014, after previously working as the head boys coach at Blue Sky High School in Rudyard from 1996 through 1999.

Laws enjoyed success during his stint as the Hawks’ boys coach, guiding Thompson Falls to district titles in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008, in addition to winning a rare Western B divisional championship in 2006.

That divisional crown for the boys was the first for Thompson Falls in over 40 years. The Thompson Falls Lady Hawks have never won a divisional championship in the history of TFHS, and that is something Laws would undoubtedly like to change.

Laws steps into a Lady Hawk program that has struggled with low participation numbers in the last several years, but at least that problem seems to have eased a bit.

“We have 21 out and feel very fortunate to have that many, we have enough for three teams,” he said. “We are very excited about getting going and seeing what we can do.”

When Laws says “we” he is also referring to his junior varsity assistant coach Michael Benson, himself a former successful Lady Hawk coach and one of the people Laws beat out for the job, and the returning Sandra Kazmierczak, who will once again guide the freshman team after a few seasons as JV coach.

Benson agreed to assist Laws after the selection process was completed.

As for returning players from last year for the Lady Hawks, juniors Megan Baxter and Jody Detlaff were first and second team selections for the 2018-2019 District 7B squad.

Also returning with lots of varsity experience are juniors Faith Frields and Riley Wilson, and sophomores Elli Pardee and Caity Alexander, and freshman Ellie Baxter will also be looked to for quality minutes, Laws said.

Seniors Belle Cooper and Reagan Hanks, who are both returning to the hardwood this season after sitting out the last few, should also bolster the Hawks’ playing rotation.

The Lady Hawks and Blue Hawk boys will begin season action with a non-conference, boy-girl doubleheader at Florence Friday.

“Florence is always tough, we expect a tough game with a team that was in the State B championship game last year,” Laws said. “They lost some players from that team but will still be very good I am sure. We look at this as a great opening game for us.”

Laws thinks the Lady Hawks have the ability to be competitive right away and should only get better as the season matures.

“We are going to be competitive,” he said. “It will be a learning process but everyone is playing hard and having fun right now. We look forward to all of it.”