Moscow Girls Make Easy Work Of Bonners Ferry Goetz’s Buzzer-Beater Caps Victory, Seals Trip To State

What could be a better end to a flawless postseason for the Moscow Bears than a picture-perfect, buzzer-beating 3-pointer?

Tami Goetz must have been thinking the same thing Friday night when she capped a 52-38 A2 District I-II girls basketball championship win over Bonners Ferry. The win boosted the Bears to 19-3 overall and gave them a berth in the state tournament.

Moscow has won the last eight district tournaments, three against the Badgers.

The key for the Bears was to keep the ball out of Amber Paulson’s hands. Paulson scored a team-high 11 points for the Badgers (16-5), whose cold-shooting offense hit 14 of 37 field goals.

“We really concentrated on Amber Paulson, and denying her on the inside,” said the Bears’ Amber Matthews. “We’ve been working really hard in practice mentally and physically to prepare for this game.”

Matthews was no slouch herself. She scored a game-high 17 points on 8-of-9 shooting from the field and grabbed eight rebounds.

The biggest quarter for the Bears was the fourth, in which they hit 6 of 8 from the field including a 3-pointer. They converted 80 percent from the foul line (8 of 10). The Badgers may not have shot well, but they did beat the Bears on the boards 27-19.

Amanda Ashby grabbed six, as did 6-2 post Kara Braniff. Sara Walter led the Badgers with 14 points, all in the second half, including 3 of 4 from behind the arc.

Bears coach Robin Barnes said defense made the difference.t Moscow will open the state tournament next Thursday against the winner of the today’s Sugar Salem-Bear Lake game.

Moscow 52, Bonners Ferry 38

Bonner’s Ferry 6 3 11 18 - 38

Moscow 10 11 10 21 - 52

BONNERS FERRY - Walter 14, Day 0, Ashby 3, Stolley 2, Maas 0, Braniff 2, Carey 2, Larson 0, Paulson 11, Robertson 0, Bateman 2.

MOSCOW - Allen 8, T.Goetz 11, Bonine 4, Lathen 2, Thomas 0, Thornton 0, Workman 4, Matthews 17, Davidson 0, C.Goetz 6, Prisbrey 0.

Priest River 47, Lakeland 44 (OT)

Priest River Spartans coach Jamie Poncho advised his team to attack.

That’s just what they did, although not without heavy resistance from the Lakeland Hawks.

The visiting Spartans (12-10 overall) slid past the Hawks 47-44 in overtime in the district loser-out game.

The victory earned the Spartans the right to play Bonners Ferry (16-5) tonight at 6 to determine the No. 2 seed in the state tournament in Nampa.

Fundamentally, the game was strong for both teams.

Tiffany Troudt of the Spartans made two free throws with 30 seconds left in overtime for a 45-44 lead.

Lakeland gave up the ball with under 10 seconds left on a charge call. The Spartans’ Melanie Duley made her only two points of the night from the foul line to seal it. Troudt scored 10.

For Lakeland, 5-foot-5 Anika Duvall scored a game-high 16. Alyssa Douglas added 10 including 6 of 8 shooting from the free-throw line.

There were 10 lead changes before a crowd of about 150.

Priest River 10 10 13 7 7 - 47

Lakeland 9 9 12 10 4 - 44

LAKELAND - Beyer 0, Foldvik 2, Douglas 10, Smith 0, Burstein 0, DeBoer 0, Campbell 6, Houchin 0, Waller 3, Egbert 2, Fox 0, Berger 5.

PRIEST RIVER - Troudt 8, Kreager 0, Cook 2, Duley 2, Washburn 1, Smith 8, Turner 3, Carpenter 12, Vogrig 11, Guthrie 0.

, DataTimes