Sandpoint Defeats Blackfoot, Borah Next

Alli Nieman took an inventory of her body parts Thursday night following Sandpoint’s 55-36 victory over Blackfoot in the first round of the State A-1 girls basketball tournament.

Arms? Red and bruised, check. Legs? A quickly swelling knot on the inside of her left calf, check. Hands? Sore, check. Arms? Flushed but still attached, check.

It was hard to tell whether the 6-foot-1 Nieman was more elated that all of her limbs were still intact or that the Bulldogs had taken care of business and will face top-ranked and undefeated Borah tonight.

Let’s assume the latter, because Nieman wouldn’t pass up the biggest opportunity in her prep basketball career.

Sandpoint (19-3 overall) will take on Borah (24-0) at 7 PST at College of Southern Idaho in the semifinals. Borah played what Coach Jim Pankratz called his team’s worst offensive game, but the Lions were too much for Pocatello, 46-27.

Blackfoot (22-4) and Pocatello (18-8) will meet in a loser-out game today.

Sandpoint 55, Blackfoot 36

Nieman had her worst offensive showing of the season in the first half as she finished with six points on 2-of-10 shooting from the field.

Her teammates picked up the slack as the Bulldogs enjoyed a 10-point lead late before settling for a 27-19 lead at halftime.

Nieman made 5 of 10 shots in the final two quarters and finished with a game-high 19 points.

“They hit me and fouled me and they weren’t calling any fouls; it was throwing my shot off,” said Nieman, who complains about officiating about every solar eclipse. “I just tried to play through it. I knew we could win. I just had to keep my head in and not let the reffing affect me. That’s what I tried to do.”

Bulldogs coach Duane Ward walked onto the court with less than a minute remaining during halftime warmups and had a chat with Nieman.

“I told her that I thought the Blackfoot kids were trying to intimidate her,” Ward said. “They were beating on her to get her head out of the game. And I told her to keep her head in the game and just play basketball. She knows how to deal with it.”

Sandpoint won with tough man-to-man defense. Leading that effort was senior wing Tanya Allmaras.

Allmaras was assigned the duty of containing Blackfoot’s Stefney Layton, a talented shooter. Layton scored 10 of her 13 points in the first half and finished the game by missing seven straight shots.

“We played (Blackfoot) two years ago (at state) and it was at that tournament that she hit like eight 3’s,” Nieman said. “We knew she was a good shooter so we put Tanya on her.”

More like glued Tanya to her. Layton made just 5 of 17 shots from the field, and three of those came in the first quarter.

Sandpoint extended its lead to double digits early in the second half, and the Bulldogs were never seriously threatened.

Like his players, Ward is ready to take on heavily favored Borah.

“I took a little peek at them (before our game); I didn’t want to take a big peek,” he said, smiling. “It’s a great challenge. That’s why we’re here.”

Sandpoint 55, Blackfoot 36

Sandpoint 16 11 12 16 - 55

Blackfoot 8 11 5 12 - 36

SANDPOINT Timblin 1, Verby 8, Gunter 0, Ward 8, Allmaras 14, Nieman 19, Ross 3, Raynor 2. BLACKFOOT Edmo 3, Jorgensen 2, Eisenbarth 4, Layton 13, Giest 8, Parris 0, Williams 4, Moysh 2.

Borah 46, Pocatello 27

Earlier, junior post Alyson Pincock rolled up a game-high 24 points for Borah in its win.

, DataTimes