Bonners Ferry To Face Moscow For State Berth

Basketball

The two perennial Intermountain League girls basketball powers will meet in the A-2 District I-II Tournament championship game Friday.

But defending state champion Moscow and Bonners Ferry took different roads to get there Wednesday before 200 at Christianson Gym.

Second-seeded and co-league champ Bonners Ferry had a breather against No. 3 Lakeland, 59-27, in the opener before No. 1-seeded Moscow barely fought off No. 4 Priest River, 47-44.

In a loser-out preliminary Friday, Priest River (12-10 overall) will take on Lakeland (9-11) at 6 p.m. before Moscow (13-7) and Bonners Ferry (15-3) clash for a state berth. The teams split a pair of league games.

The top two teams advance to state, which will be held Feb. 20-22 at Nampa.

Bonners Ferry 59, Lakeland 27

Except for a couple of lapses in ballhandling, the Badgers played a near flawless game.

After a relatively close opening quarter, Bonners Ferry pulled away in the second period. A basket by Rosie Decker gave the Badgers their biggest lead in the first half at 27-13 with 46 seconds left before intermission.

It was more of the same in the second half.

Lakeland pulled within 11 points midway through the third quarter, but the Badgers quickly moved the lead to 42-22 by the end of the period.

Bonners Ferry’s biggest lead came late at 59-24.

“I was real pleased with our attitude and confidence,” Bonners Ferry coach Jim Nash said. “They were ready to play. Most of them (the starters) have been to state before and I liked how they played like they’ve been there.”

The Badgers’ Amber Paulson dominated, scoring a game-high 20 points and hauling down 13 rebounds. The Badgers owned the boards, enjoying a 43-28 advantage.

Lakeland coach Steve Seymour shook his head in disgust afterward.

“It was one of our worst games of the year,” he said. “I thought we were beyond that. We’ll have to regroup for Friday.”

Both teams combined for 50 turnovers. Lakeland committed 29.

Bonners Ferry 15 12 15 17 - 59

Lakeland 8 7 7 5 - 27

Bonners Ferry - Walter 6, Robertson 0, Decker 8, Bateman 8, Larson 0, Myers 3, Braniff 5, Carey 0, Ashby 5, Paulson 20, Downing 3, Carlson 1, Armstrong 0, Morman 0, Cartwright 0.

Lakeland - Beyer 0, Foldvik 0, Douglas 6, Jamison 6, Boone 1, DeBoer 0, Campbell 5, Banbury 3, Harwood 6, Fox 0, Berger 0.

Moscow 47, Priest River 44

The Bears appeared well in control with less than 3 minutes remaining before halftime, leading 25-13.

That’s when the Spartans broke loose. Or when the Bears fell apart, depending on how you want to look at it.

An 8-0 spurt over the final 2:54 helped Priest River pull within 25-21 at halftime. And the best was yet to come.

The Spartans extended their run to 14-0 in the early moments of the third period, taking a 27-25 lead on a flat-footed bank shot by Missy Ennis.

From there it was back and forth until the final horn.

A steal and a layup by Ennis, who had a marvelous game with 24 points, gave Priest River its biggest lead at 33-30 with 4:05 left in the third period.

In the end, a sophomore came up big for the Bears.

With Moscow ahead 42-40, 5-foot-10 Amber Mathews made a steal following a Spartan rebound of a Moscow missed free throw. Mathews softly put up the layup to give the Bears a four-point cushion with 1:35 remaining.

“That hurt us a lot,” Priest River coach Ron Hopkins said.

But the Spartans didn’t give up. A jumper from the foul line by Candice Carpenter cut Moscow’s lead to 45-44 with :19 left.

Priest River was forced to foul. And the Spartans’ 10th team foul put Tami Goetz on the free-throw line for two shots. She made both with 9 seconds left for the final margin.

“I couldn’t be happier with the kids’ effort, but I’m disappointed we lost,” Hopkins said. “But we’re not out of it by any means.”

Mathews and Anna Allen led Moscow with 11 points each.

Moscow 18 7 9 13 - 47

Priest River 9 12 13 10 - 44

Moscow - Allen 11, T. Goetz 8, Thomas 2, Bonine 0, Workman 0, Mathews 11, Sorbel 3, C. Goetz 6, Makus 4, Griggs 2.

Priest River - K. Duley 6, Reed 0, Ruiz 5, Ennis 24, Smith 0, Go 3, Carpenter 6, Vogrig 0.

A-4 District I

Lakeside 47, Clark Fork 28

Harmony Hammons had 12 rebounds and Angela Flint hit a pair of second-quarter 3-pointers to lead the top-seeded Knights (14-6) over the No. 4 Wampus Cats (7-13) at Lakeland Junior High in Rathdrum.

Lakeside will meet Kootenai at 7:45 Friday night in a winner-to-state game. Clark Fork and Falls Christian will play a loser-out game at 6 Friday.

Clark Fork 5 2 4 17 - 28

Lakeside 12 13 6 16 - 47

CLARK FORK Culcasi 0, J.Miller 6, Manderscheid 0, K.Miller 0, Haller 2, C.Rocha 0, St.Clair 2, Derr 4, A.Rocha 2, Hager 2, Hess 4, Worcester 6.

LAKESIDE Flint 14, Sijohn 6, Mi.Middleton 4, Kolar 10, Ma.Middleton 0, Hammons 9, McPeak 0, Hoffman 2, Kelley 0, Twoteeth 0, Fuchs 2, Mullan 0.

Kootenai 47, F.Christian 45

Annie Goodson scored 13 and the Warriors (9-9) shot 55 percent from the floor in the third quarter to rally past the Eagles (8-11). FC’s Emilee Jackson scored 23.

Falls Christian 10 19 4 12 - 45

Kootenai 13 11 18 5 - 47

FALLS CHRISTIAN Johnson 2, Eberle 7, Williams 2, Jackson 26, Gelnette 0, Moate 2, Taylor 4, M.Jenkins 0, Tuttle 2, Ap.Coy 0.

KOOTENAI S.Kraack 6, Reinhardt 4, Bornitz 12, Hunter 5, Goodson 13, L.Kraack 0, Conley 0, Damiano 7.

Inland Empire League boys

Post Falls 79, Sandpoint 64

The league-champion Trojans (16-3, 7-0) received 20 points from Chad Quesnell and nine rebounds from Austin Lee to beat the visiting Bulldogs (7-12, 1-6).

Sandpoint 18 15 12 19 - 64

Post Falls 16 17 26 20 - 79

SANDPOINT Boren 14, Nieman 8, Jeffres 12, Bowman 13, Eller 0, Herrington 0, Palmer 17, Kleinert 0.

POST FALLS Olson 4, Quesnell 20, Alexander 14, Curlee 2, Bohn 6, McLean 13, Lee 13, Therrian 1, Juhlin 6, Fehling 0.

, DataTimes