Badgers Advance To State Play

High school girls

Bonners Ferry High girls basketball coach Jim Nash is thankful the A-2 District I-II tournament’s final game Saturday was played in the evening and not the afternoon.

“I don’t think we would have done it if we’d played earlier, especially considering we went to overtime,” said Nash, whose Badgers earned the district’s runner-up state berth by surviving a 39-36 scare from upstart Priest River.

“We were tired, and we were beat up from last night,” he said of the 52-38 loss to Moscow in the district title game.

The only good to come from one of the Badgers’ worst games of the season was they came through when it counted.

Bonners Ferry (17-5) will make its fifth straight trip to state, which begins Thursday at Nampa High School. The Badgers open against No. 1-ranked Shelley (21-3) in the tournament’s first game at 12:45 p.m. PST.

Moscow (19-3) will meet Sugar-Salem (16-10), which finished runner-up to Shelley in District VI.

Tiny senior point guard Sarah Walter, who’s had a propensity to hit big shots in her career, did so late at Post Falls High School’s gym.

Walter made a 3-pointer with 49 seconds left in the overtime to put the Badgers in front for good at 37-36. It was her lone basket.

It was a more difficult shot than a breakaway layup she had 30 seconds later that rimmed out.

Two free throws by senior wing Amber Paulson gave the Badgers what would be the final margin.

The Spartans had the ball last, calling timeout to set up a final play with 14 seconds left. But Priest River fumbled the ball around and never got off a shot as time expired.

Priest River (12-11) put on a furious rally just to have an opportunity to win.

The Badgers built their biggest lead at 24-13 just under 3 minutes into the third quarter.

But the Spartans fought back, cutting it to 26-21 going into the fourth quarter.

A 3-pointer by freshman point guard Tiffany Troudt tied the score at 30 with 4:32 left in regulation.

Both teams scored just two baskets thereafter. Priest River had the ball last, but an 18-footer from Candice Carpenter bounced off the side of the rim at the buzzer.

First-year Priest River coach Jamie Poncho was pleased with the comeback after a horrific 20-turnover first half by the Spartans. They played with more composure in the second half.

“Bonners Ferry’s a good team,” Poncho said. “I’m glad we played them as tough as we did.”

Paulson led the Badgers with 17 points. Amanda Ashby had 11. For the Spartans, Jacey Vogrig led with 12.

All-league

Ten players were named to the IML’s all-league team.

They were: Paulson and Walter of Bonners Ferry; Anna Allen, Courtney and Tami Goetz of Moscow; Julie Kunkel of St. Maries; Tina Foldvik and Alyssa Douglas of Lakeland; and Jacey Vogrig of Priest River.

Bonners Ferry 39, Priest Riv. 36 OT

Priest River 7 6 8 13 2 - 36

Bonners Ferry 11 9 8 8 5 - 39

PRIEST RIVER - Troudt 5, Cook 2, Oscarson 2, Duley 3, Smith 4, Turner 3, Carpenter 5, Vogrig 12.

BONNERS FERRY - Walter 3, Ashby 11, Braniff 4, Carey 2, Paulson 17, D. Robertson 2, Bateman 0, Stolley 0.

A-1 STATE QUALIFIER

Post Falls 53, Boise 34

Janelle Ruen had eight steals, seven assists and seven rebounds as the Trojans (17-8) defeated the Braves at Grangeville to qualify for the state tournament.

Post Falls jumped ahead 12-0 and held Boise scoreless for all but 50 seconds of the first quarter. The Trojans’ Megan Billetz scored nine second-quarter points.

PF opens state play Thursday at Nampa against Highland of Pocatello (19-5).

Boise 4 8 11 11 - 34 Post Falls 12 21 10 10 - 53 BOISE - Ericksson 7, Ralston 10, E.Taylor 2, Gleason 2, Brown 5, Blaine 1, Raney 2, Tomasini 0, Daley 0, W.Taylor 1, Butler 0, Hall 4.

POST FALLS - Eberle 11, Billetz 12, Mills 2, Brown 0, Foster 2, Edmonds 2, Holland 0, Swanstrom 2, Ruen 16, Johnson 6.

, DataTimes