CFHS stars Kobe and Kaylee Banks have given Sandpoint's basketball teams new life Words and photos by Kyle Cajero

By the time the buzzer sounded on Clark Fork’s 2018 1A Division II district tournament loss to Genesis Prep, then-Clark Fork sophomore Kobe Banks and his younger sister Kaylee knew their high school careers were in for a change.

“We finished with five players at the end of the season in a district game,” Kobe said. “Nobody wanted to play hard, nobody wanted to work out, nobody wanted to play basketball or anything. Honestly, coming [to Sandpoint] was easy, sports-wise.”

With three All-North Star League honors between them, junior Kobe and sophomore Kaylee Banks have been welcome additions to Sandpoint’s boys and girls basketball teams, as both teams have ushered in new eras under Wade Engelson and Will Love, respectively. And although switching high schools can be difficult, both Banks siblings have transitioned from Clark Fork to Sandpoint seamlessly — even though the sheer size difference between the schools still isn’t lost on Kobe.

“But like, honestly: From one hundred, to a thousand people?” Kobe said. “That’s pretty crazy.”

Fitting in and finding a group of friends oftentimes provides its own share of challenges for high school students, but being involved Northern Idaho’s AAU basketball scene helped. Kaylee knew fellow sophomores Riley Cessna, Bella Phillips and current junior Dawson Driggs from summer basketball, while Kobe grew up playing basketball with current juniors Ryan Roos and Wilson VanDenBerg.

Kobe’s connection with Roos has been a recurring motif in Sandpoint’s season. The juniors have an innate ability for finding each other on the court, which has come in handy as the Bulldogs have become accustomed to first-year head coach Wade Engelson’s system.

In fact, the juniors’ familiarity was on display earlier this week against Lakeland.

Midway through the third quarter, Roos forced a Lakeland turnover as Sandpoint implemented its press. Roos gathered control of the ball at the three-point line and found Banks, who was prevously in charge of guarding the inbounder, waiting in the key. But Lakeland’s inbounder reacted, blocking Banks’s path as he was stepping into his layup.

Banks made a split-second decision. In mid-air, Banks froze his defender then whipped a behind-the-back pass to a trailing Roos, who finished the layup and gave Banks his second assist on the night.

“I think his coach didn’t like that behind-the-back pass,” Kaylee said, teasing her older brother. “But it was a good basketball play and the crowd really liked it.”

Talk about basketball with the Banks siblings, and it becomes abundantly clear that both value passing.

When reminiscing on their first seasons in Sandpoint, Kobe mentioned his assists, sparking an exchange where he and his sister were — quite literally — passing their thoughts off to each other while talking about passing.

“I love dishing the ball out; It’s my favorite thing,” Kobe said, starting the conversation. “I love having wide open people.”

“Passing definitely feels better than scoring,” Kaylee chimed in, without missing a beat. “Or it’s about the same.”

“It feels better than scoring, I think,” Kobe said. “Finding someone wide open and dishing it to them.”

“Yeah, especially if it’s a good pass, like between a zone or something,” Kaylee concluded.

Similarities between the Banks siblings can be traced back to their days at Clark Fork. Both made starts on varsity teams as freshmen, established significant roles in the rotations, then were the only freshmen on the All-North Star League teams during their respective freshmen seasons. And although Kaylee had merely one season at Clark Fork, her freshman season elicited high praise from Clark Fork head coach Jordan Adams.

“A freshman playing at her level is something that you just don’t see everyday,” Adams said in a Feb. 27 Bonner County Daily Bee article. “She’s going to do great things if she keeps up with it.”

Kaylee’s growth as a player was one of the more notable storylines during Sandpoint’s first season under Will Love. Cracking the Bulldogs’ rotation took some time — especially when Dawson Driggs rejoined the lineup after the first four games, prompting Love and company to go back to the drawing board.

But by the time the Bulldogs were in the thick of league play, Kaylee Banks had worked her way into the starting lineup thanks to her prowess on defense.

Of all her performances, the Bulldogs’ Feb. 12 home game against Moscow gave a glimpse at her two-way potential. Facing an early second-quarter deficit, Kaylee came off the bench and hit her first three shots. She finished with 12 points and a team-high three steals

“Moscow was a big game,” Kaylee said. “I knew that game I needed to come out strong for our team in order to win that game because it was such a critical game. Coming out strong in the beginning of the game and hitting shots was really memorable.”

Kobe’s first season in Sandpoint has been equally memorable. The junior announced his arrival in a Nov. 29 game against Timberlake, in which his 13-point, five rebound, four steal, one block and effort was reminiscent of the stat-stuffing games that gave him league-wide recognition at Clark Fork.

From there, he has only improved. During Sandpoint’s near-comeback at Bonners Ferry, Banks led the way on both ends of the floor with 15 points, six rebounds four steals — most of which came when the Bulldogs used their full-court press to cut the Badgers’ lead to single-digits. A season-high 19 points against Kellogg and a pair of 17-point performances against Timberlake and Shadle Park solidified his role as one of Sandpoint’s go-to scorers.

“Kobe is one of the best catch-and-shoot high school players I’ve ever seen,” Sandpoint head coach Wade Engelson said. “He is a fantastic shooter. He’s a great teammate, works hard in practice and always tries being the best player he can be.”

Yet despite the successes Kaylee and Kobe have had, the transition has provided its fair share of challenges.

“The competition is definitely a big [challenge],” Kaylee said. “Going from 1A to 4A was definitely a change.”

Teams in 4A circles are, by nature, tougher and deeper. Although Genesis Prep looms over schools like Clark Fork in 1A play, the teams Kobe has faced have been deeper, which

“Lakeland has multiple guys that can come off the bench and start scoring; Moscow has the same thing,” Kobe said. “We just need to have a bench that can come out and score. I think that as a team we need to practice a lot harder, not just go through the motions.”

Meanwhile on the girls’ side, while Kaylee admits that her and her teammates got closer throughout the season, she sees room for even more improvement.

“I hope moving forward our team will have more camaraderie,” Kaylee said. “If you watch the other schools, the whole bench stands up and gives high-fives as he or she comes by. It’s something our coaches should be pushing for because starting there will make a difference down the road in helping us all gel together. That was a huge difference from last year for me because that was mandatory [at Clark Fork].”

In Kaylee’s eyes, this closeness would translate to on-the-court success.

“If everyone could pass to each other more, then we’d be a bit better,” Kaylee said. “Having people looking out for other people on the court is something I’d like to see.”

But for the immediate future, the Banks siblings have enjoyed snowmobiling with their friends from Clark Fork at Trestle Creek and, in Kobe’s case, wrapping up his junior season and looking ahead to college.

“I’ve been talking to Coach Wade [Engelson] and [Sandpoint athletic director Ryan] Knowles about playing college basketball,” Kobe said. “He’s making me a highlight reel, and I’m getting really excited about it. If we beat Lakeland, then we get to play Moscow. NIC is always there watching, so that’s always a big thing. I’ve always gotta show up when we play there.”

All in all, if this season indicative of things to come for the Banks siblings, then Sandpoint fans have plenty of reasons to be excited for the future.