Ruen, Johnson Spark Post Falls

Girls basketball

The all-around aggressive efforts of Janelle Ruen and Desiree Johnson helped the Post Falls Trojans defeat the Bantams 50-35 at Clarkston in a Border League girls match-up.

Ruen had 11 points, seven rebounds and four steals. Johnson ended with nine points, nine rebounds and four blocked shots. The win pushed the Trojans to 8-5 overall, 6-4 in league.

Trisha Johnson and Heather Haight combined for 23 points as the struggling Bantams saw their record drop to 0-6, 0-6.

Post Falls 50, Clarkston 35

Post Falls 10 16 10 14 - 50

Clarkston 13 5 5 12 - 35

POST FALLS - Eberle 7, Billetz 5, Mills 0, Brown 7, Foster 6, Edmonds 0, Holland 2, Swanstrom 3, Ruen 11, Johnson 9.

CLARKSTON - Blankinship 3, Smith 0, Jones 1, Tucker 4, Murray 2, Strohbehn 0, Blake 0, Johnson 12, Rodgers 2, Haight 11, Pavey 0.

Lewiston 58, Sandpoint 35

The Bengals defeated the Bulldogs in Border League play to improve to 6-7 overall, 6-3 in league, while the Bulldogs dropped to 3-11, 1-9.

E. Valley 56, W. Valley 46

East Valley had too much full court pressure early and too much Malea Schumacher later on for the Eagles.

The Knights (4-6, 3-3) dispatched rival West Valley (5-5, 3-3) to catch up to the Eagles in the Border League.

The press created numerous first-quarter turnover baskets for an early 19-7 lead for the Knights.

Schumacher, EV’s 5-foot-5 junior guard, hit three straight baskets at the start of the third quarter to up EV’s lead to 36-20, in effect sealing the outcome.

She finished with a team-high 19 points, including two 3-point baskets during EV’s first-quarter start, five points in the second quarter and four third-period baskets.

The game began with a 13-2 run and the Knights upped their advantage to 24-7 30 seconds into the second quarter.

Gabby McClintock’s 7-of-8 free-throw shooting and a late 3-point basket by Shannon Groh produced a small WV rally by halftime.

But EV’s 40-30 halftime advantage was as close as the Eagles would get.

McClintock scored a game-high 21 points and Vanessa Parvey had 14 rebounds for the Eagles.

The Knights won despite foul troubles that kept season scoring leader Rebecca Triplett, who finished with 10 points, on the bench for much of the game.

Their fast break against the Eagles’ second-half pressure kept the Knights safely in the lead.

West Valley 7 13 12 14 - 46

East Valley 19 11 13 13 - 56

WEST VALLEY - Hilsabeck 3, Groh 5, McClintock 21, Huffman 5, Holstrom 4, Pedey 0, Parvey 8, Vermeers 0.

EAST VALLEY - Conard 4, Schumacher 19, LeGrant 2, Werner 1, Birdsbill 4, Tomblin 9, Neal 2, Tonani 0, Schultz 2, Triplett 10, Shogren 3.

Non-league

St. Maries 54, Wallace 17

In terms of statistics, Jolie Kunkel could have beaten the Miners by herself.

Kunkel scored the first 12 points for the Lumberjacks (3-9) and finished with 24. She shot 10 of 15 from the field and 4 of 5 from the free-throw line. She also added six steals.

Nikki Gibson grabbed nine rebounds and six steals for the Lumberjacks.

Wallace 3 8 4 2 - 17

St. Maries 18 15 9 12 - 54

WALLACE - Branstetter 5, Striker 2, Gregory 0, Rupp 0, Glover 4, Deahn 4, Carrico 0, Cantamessa 2, Garczoz 0.

ST. MARIES - Harpole 3, Cuvala 2, Holdahl 10, Boyd 1, Bond 5, Allen 0, Osier 0, Nelson 3, Gibson 6, Kunkel 24.

, DataTimes