Bulldogs Lose Title In Thriller
Sandpoint High School girls basketball coach Duane Ward didn’t list any excuses after his Bulldogs fell to Centennial 52-48 in overtime in the State A-1 championship game Saturday.
“They (the Patriots) executed when they needed to execute and they deserved to win,” said Ward, who emphasized that the Patriots won and that the Bulldogs didn’t lose. “There wasn’t much difference. A game like that just comes down to a couple of key plays - a turnover here or there, a missed free throw or a missed basket - which happens at any time during the game.”
The state finale featured two teams that were not only not expected to play in the title game, but weren’t accorded much respect in their own leagues. Ward pointed out Sandpoint was picked to finish third in the Inland Empire League.
The championship game was a defensive gem by both teams. And both teams had several opportunities to win the game in regulation.
Sandpoint’s Alli Nieman made the front end of a one-and-one with 17 seconds left to tie the score at 43-all. Her second shot was short off the rim and appeared to be the result of complete exhaustion.
More on that later.
Centennial had the last possession and the Patriots’ Staci Kirk forced a baseline jumper that was off the mark at the buzzer.
A basket from the block by Nieman gave Sandpoint its final lead at 46-45 with 1:59 remaining in the 4-minute overtime.
Kristinya Birch’s lone basket of the game, a 15-foot jumper with 1:13 left, put Centennial ahead for good at 47-46.
Centennial’s defensive strategy wasn’t anything new to Sandpoint. Pats coach Emery Roy figured his team’s best chance at winning was to use three players to defend Nieman and leave her teammates essentially unguarded.
Nieman was held to one point in the first quarter, and didn’t score her first basket until the 1:17 mark of the second period.
The Patriots fronted Nieman, had a defender behind her and brought a third player on either side of her.
“We just didn’t want to let her score 30 (points),” said Roy, who smiled and rated the defense a minor success after being told Nieman finished with a game-high 28 points, 21 in the second half.
Nieman said she was much more exhausted late in the game than the two previous games. She felt it was a result of not just Centennial’s physical defense but the toll of three games against physical defenses.
She made just 1 of 4 free throws in the fourth quarter, including missing the front end of a one-and-one.
“We could have won if I’d made one more free throw,” she said. “Oh well. No one thought we’d make it to state. I mean we knocked off Borah which was supposed to be the best team here. That was a great accomplishment. I’ve always wanted to play in a championship basketball game. We just came up a little bit short.”
The Bulldogs wouldn’t have been in the title game had it not been for Nieman, who was arguably the most valuable player in the tourney.
For Roy, a longtime coach at Meridian and Centennial, it’s his sixth state title, second at Centennial in four years. Interestingly, Roy coached at Meridian when his teams beat Sandpoint in three straight championship games in the early 1980s.
It was Sandpoint’s first appearance in the state final since 1984 - when Nieman and most of her teammates were in preschool or kindergarten.
“I’m not an unhappy person by any means,” Ward said. “I’m disappointed that we didn’t win, but I’m so happy for the kids that they got into the championship game. I wouldn’t be any (more) proud of them, really, if we’d won it.”
Centennial 52, Sandpoint 48 OT
Centennial 4 15 13 11 9 - 52 Sandpoint 12 9 10 12 5 - 48
CENTENNIAL Kirk 19, Martin 0, Jensen 13, Birch 3, Pellant 9, Scown 2, Snyder 6. SANDPOINT Timblin 5, Verby 2, Ward 4, Allmaras 9, Nieman 28.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo