Nieman Ignites Sandpoint Win

Prep basketball

It’s been a long time since the Sandpoint Bulldogs could lay claim to an Inland Empire League girls basketball title.

In fact, so long that most of the current players were still adjusting to pre-school.

But the Bulldogs, behind the play of Alli Nieman, took a huge step towards a league championship Thursday with a hard-fought 60-58 win over defending league and state champion Lake City in front of about 600 fans on the T-Wolves home court.

Nieman, a University of Idaho bound senior, scored 34 points (21 in the second half) despite tough zone coverage by the T-Wolves.

“This was probably our biggest game of the season up to this point,” Nieman said. “We knew if we lost, we’d be tied with them (Lake City).

“In the first half, they were playing that zone so it was kinda hard to get the ball, but I always try to step it up at crunch time.”

The win was especially big for Sandpoint because it gives the Bulldogs (5-0 IEL, 13-2 overall) a twogame lead over Lake City and Lewiston with just three league games to go.

And although the league title is certainly still in question, Bulldog coach Duane Ward stressed the importance of the win.

“That was a great win for us,” Ward said. “It’s easy to forget how hard it is to play in this gym. It’s a tough place to play in the defending state champion’s gym.

“The most important thing is that we played hard and they (the Bulldogs) hung in there on the road.”

With the loss, Lake City (4-2 IEL, 10-6 overall) falls into a tie for second in the league standings with Lewiston.

If a game can be closer than a two-point final margin, this might have been it. The issue wasn’t really decided until a Lake City inbounds pass with 2.6 seconds left in the game was picked off by Bulldog junior Tanya Allmaras.

The first half featured four ties and and an offensive battle between Nieman and Lake City’s Katie Hatrock.

While Nieman was working inside to get her 13 points, Hatrock was deadly outside for the T-Wolves. The 5-5 junior guard connected on 6 of 9 field goal attempts, including two 3-pointers to keep Lake City within two (33-31) at halftime.

But Sandpoint held Hatrock to just three second half points and Nieman was just getting warmed up, scoring 14 points in the third quarter including two long 3-pointers.

That helped Sandpoint to a 49-44 lead heading into the final quarter, but Lake City wasn’t quite through.

Five different T-Wolves scored to edge to within one at 55-54 with 3:50 to go and then neither team scored for well over two minutes.

Forced to foul Lake City sent the Bulldogs to the line six times in the last minute and they converted on five of those free throws.

Lake City coach Dave Stockwell praised his team for battling the Bulldogs and thought his team played well enough to win.

“I didn’t think we’d lose that game,” Stockwell said. “Alli Nieman had a great game, but if she’s allowed to camp in the key, there’s nothing we can do about it.”

Aside from Nieman’s 34 points, no other Bulldog scored in double figures.

Sandpoint 60, Lake City 58

Sandpoint 13 20 16 11 - 60

Lake City 15 16 13 14 - 58

SANDPOINT Iverson 0, Timblin 6, Verby 8, Gunter 2, Ross 0, Ward 4, Allamaras 6, Nieman 34, Raynor 0, Carlson 0.

LAKE CITY Jacobson 6, Hatrock 17, Tolzman 6, Telford 6, Stetson 6, M. Asher 0, Teston 0, Herbert 13, Dodge 2, A. Asher 2.

Post Falls 57, Coeur d’Alene 39

Heidi Umthun scored 20 and the Trojans (2-4, 9-7) beat the visiting Vikings (0-6, 4-13) by making defensive adjustments after leading by just two points at half.

CdA’s Andrea Wilkey scored 11.

Coeur d’Alene 9 12 3 15 - 39

Post Falls 12 11 19 15 - 57

COEUR D’ALENE Chambers 8, Orr 4, Cultra 5, Wilkey 11, Janke 7, Pearson 0, Hansen 4.

POST FALLS Klaudt 0, Umthun 20, Murphy 9, Swanstrom 4, Waltz 3, Thomson 5, Ruen 10, Glaser 6, Beatty 0.

Non-league:

Priest River 59, Clark Fork 40

Sara Suchocki had eight of her team’s 23 steals and the Spartans (8-7) shot 55 percent from the field in the second half to pull away from the visiting Wampus Cats (7-7).

Krissi Ruiz scored 18 for Priest River, Hailey Scofield 16 for Clark Fork.

Clark Fork 8 17 11 4 - 40

Priest River 4 17 26 12 - 59

CLARK FORK J.Miller 0, Manderscheid 0, Haller 4, Longstreet 11, Storaasli 3, Scofield 16, Hager 6.

PRIEST RIVER Go 0, M.Ruiz 2, Stensland 4, Reed 0, K.Ruiz 18, Ennis 12, Suchocki 12, Duley 6, Rasmussen 0, Vogrig 5, Cary 0, White 0.

Bonners Ferry 57, Wallace 42

Becky Bateman scored 19, Kara Braniff had eight rebounds and the Badgers (9-5) held the visiting Miners (5-11) scoreless for the first 3 minutes during their win.

Sarah Walter added six steals and six assists for the Badgers, who had a 37-21 rebounding edge. Wallace’s Joy Sperry scored 18.

Wallace 6 14 8 14 - 42

Bonners Ferry 18 16 17 6 - 57

WALLACE Sperry 18, Gregory 5, Calabretta 10, England 4, Branstetter 0, Sleezer 1, Nipp 4.

BONNERS FERRY Walter 4, Bateman 19, Larson 2, Braniff 2, Carey 4, Paulson 12, Downing 4, Knott 0, Comer 2, Ripatti 8, Morman 0, Myers 0.

Boys

North Star

Mullan 64, Falls Christian 42

Chris Angle made four 3-pointers in the third quarter and seven for the game as the visiting Tigers (1-0, 6-2) beat the Eagles (0-1, 4-6) at Post Falls and tied idle Lakeside for first place.

Mullan outrebounded the Eagles 42-20.

Mullan 16 16 20 12 - 64

Falls Christian 8 13 8 13 - 42

MULLAN Bush 4, Murphy 0, Reed 16, Angle 22, Chavez 0, Fritz 12, Sisk 6, Greenfield 4.

FALLS CHRISTIAN Berg 4, Burrage 2, Mullen 2, Smith 0, Burns 6, Lefevre 0, Backs 4, Horton 11, Larson 13.

, DataTimes