Schoening breaks 4A Idaho state tournament scoring record
SANDPOINT — She torched the nets of north Idaho all season, and nothing changed when Sandpoint junior guard Madi Schoening traveled south for the state basketball tournament recently.
Schoening scored either 65 or 67 points during the three games, more on that later, setting the 4A state record for most points in a tournament. Schoening was credited with 20 points against Kuna, 22 against Century and 23 against Rigby, tying the state record of 65.
Two more points were inadvertently credited to Riley Couch, and the state is currently looking into the matter, a correctable mistake as each game was webcast. Either way, the record is Schoening’s, capping a remarkable year that also saw her also set the Sandpoint school record with 49 points in one game.
“It’s exciting,” said Schoening of the state record. “It was definitely a goal of mine. I knew I’d have to average 25 points, and knew I had the potential.”
In a rare anomaly, Sandpoint now has the record holder for both 5A and 4A, with Ali Nieman, who went on to star at the University of Idaho, scoring a whopping 83 points for the Bulldogs in the state tourney in 1996. Even more rare, Duane Ward was the head coach during both record setting performance. In yet another coincidence, Bob Witte was on hand to broadcast the games on radio for fans in Sandpoint.
While Nieman was primarily a post player, and did much of her damage on the blocks, she could also step out and connect from the perimeter. Schoening is more of an outside shooter, and excels when running the floor in the open court. Ward said both players share a few other common denominators.
“They are extremely hard workers. Both are team oriented and both so easy to coach. It was such an honor to be around them and be part of it,” described Ward. “A lot of the credit has to go to the families and parents. They have such good support. Jim Nieman worked relentlessly with Ali, and Ross (Schoening) has done the same thing with Madi.”
Even with teams focused on shutting Schoening down, she still managed to get hers, and almost always in the flow of the offense. In her school record 49 point outburst at Lakeland, she hit the total on just 23 shot attempts, a remarkably low number. She finished 16 of 23 from the field, 7 of 8 from beyond the arc, and 10 of 12 from the line, breaking the previous school record of 40 points held by none other than Nieman.
“It’s a huge honor to be in the same realm as Alli,” said Schoening. “I’ve heard stories about her.”
In another rare shooting display, Schoening made 19 of 19 attempts from the free throw line against Clarkston, one of her four 30 plus point games on the season.
Often times, high scorers are a byproduct of high volume shooting, but both Ward and assistant coach Will Love rave about Schoening’s team-first mentality, and willingness to get other players involved. She also led the team in rebounding and steals, scoring a lot of points by simply pushing the pace in transition.
You hear great scorers talk about getting into “the zone,” that mythical place where every shot that leaves the fingers feels like it’s going in. Schoening had that feeling against Lakeland, especially after a teammate told her she had 40 points after her fifth 3-pointer.
“I honestly was just in the zone. It felt like a team thing,” recalled Schoening of the 49 point night. “There was one shot where my feet were staggered. I said if this goes in . . .”
The University of Montana is one of a handful of schools expressing interest in Schoening, a list that figures to grow when her senior year rolls around.