Sandpoint High Girls Earn Share Of Iel Championship

For the first time in a decade, the Sandpoint High School girls basketball team captured an Inland Empire League championship.

The way the Bulldogs clinched their first title since 1984 was impressive, to say the least. Sandpoint won two games on the road, capped with a convincing 58-42 victory over Lewiston on Saturday.

Two days earlier, Sandpoint topped defending State A-1 champion Lake City 60-58.

Fourth-ranked Sandpoint raised its league record to 6-0 and 14-2 overall.

Most of Sandpoint’s players were preschoolers when the Bulldogs earned a share of the league title with Coeur d’Alene in 1984. The Bulldogs won a league championship outright in 1982.

Sandpoint took control in the middle quarters, outscoring the Bengals 37-15. Leading the way as usual were Alli Nieman and Tanya Allmaras. Nieman finished with a game-high 25 points and Allmaras chipped in 15. Laura Bloom led Lewiston with 13.

Lewiston dropped to 3-3 and 9-7.

Sandpoint 58, Lewiston 42

Sandpoint 7 23 14 14 - 58

Lewiston 11 10 5 16 - 42

SANDPOINT Timblin 6, Verby 4, Gunter 0, Ross 8, Ward 0, Allmaras 15, Nieman 25.

LEWISTON Roberts 3, Hunt 3, Gomez 2, Martin 4, Boettcher 0, McEachern 7, Cushman 7, Bloom 13, Cain 3.

Post Falls 60, Lakeland 48

The Trojans made it a season sweep of their non-league home-and-home series with the Hawks.

Behind a game-high 22 points from Heidi Umthun, Post Falls pulled away from its Rathdrum Prairie rival in the second half. Key to the victory was Post Falls’ shooting at the free-throw line. The Trojans made 27 of 32 foul shots and Umthun made 13 of 15 free throws.

Post Falls improved to 10-7 overall. Lakeland, led by Alyssa Douglas’ 13 points, fell to 2-13.

Lakeland 12 17 4 15 - 48

Post Falls 11 23 17 9 - 60

LAKELAND Reed 2, Foldvik 6, Douglas 13, Jamison 0, Boone 7, Meyer 0, Dengel 3, Hall 9, Harwood 6, Deboer 2.

POST FALLS Klaudt 2, Umthun 22, Murphy 0, Swanstrom 3, Waltz 10, Thomson 0, Ruen 12, Glaser 4, Beatty 7.

Boys

Lakeland 66, Priest River 44

The Hawks snapped a 17-game losing streak dating back to last season with their win at home over the struggling Spartans.

Prior to Saturday, the Hawks hadn’t won since Jan. 24, 1995, when they defeated East Valley (59-53).

Lakeland (1-2, 1-11) turned up the defensive pressure in the second half to pull away, The Hawks outscored Priest River (0-3, 1-10) 18-6 in the decisive third period.

Priest River 10 11 6 17 - 44

Lakeland 8 17 18 23 - 66

PRIEST RIVER Score 9, Ackley 5, Bradbury 10 Thorton 8, Johnson 3, Cook 3, Walters 6, Storro 0.

LAKELAND Holt 0, Banks 2, Singer 14, Bevacqua 4, Larsen 5, DeBoer 11, Freed 8, Kowalczyk 9, Rothrock 6, Dotts 0, Mudge 7.

Wrestling

Spokane Valley’s two Frontier League schools posted convincing wins Saturday afternoon in a double dual at Rathdrum.

West Valley collected wins over host Lakeland 38-33 and Post Falls 47-32, while East Valley topped Post Falls 48-21 and Lakeland 37-27.

Despite the losses, Lakeland’s and Post Falls’ top wrestlers continued to dominate opponents. Lakeland junior Nathan Pascoe posted two pins at 158 pounds while Post Falls sophomore Al Mack also scored two falls.

Fletcher Barkdull of Ferris, the area’s lone champion, won the 130-pound classification at the Rocky Mountain Classic in Missoula.

University finished sixth with 119 points, led by the runner-up finishes of Josh Knowles (119) and Andy Roberts (125), and the third-place effort of Jared Osborn (112). Ferris (68.5 points) took 10th place, with Ryan Ellis second at 105.

Clarkston (65.5) was 11th place, topped by third-place Corey Thivierge (171) and Scott Mountjoy (275).

Jeremiah Divis (129 pounds), Justin Divis (141) and Jame Lontz (148) won titles to lead Colville to third place at the Eastmont Invitational in East Wenatchee.

Colville scored 172 to the 198 of the host Wildcats and 179.5 of runner-up Sedro Woolley.

Colville’s Chad Hildebrandt was pinned by Eastmont’s Rigel Lamar in the 190-pound final.

, DataTimes