Spartans pull away in fourth quarter

NAMPA, Idaho – Gary Stewart couldn’t contain his emotions.

So the Priest River girls basketball coach stepped out of the way and asked assistant coach Katie Bodecker to introduce the Spartans after they captured the school’s first state championship in a team sport Saturday.

Stewart’s Spartans downed Kellogg 45-33 in a well-played State 3A final at the Idaho Center.

“I’m such a crybaby,” Stewart said. “My girls know that anything sentimental and I’m going to start crying.”

Capturing a state title certainly would fall in that category.

It was the first all-Intermountain League final since 2002, when Lakeland topped Priest River. Kellogg was playing in its second title game in five years.

Kellogg appeared as if it might pull off an upset when the Wildcats took a 30-27 lead over the District I-II champs into the fourth quarter.

Moments later, the Spartans (19-7) went on a 13-0 run and the separation was all they needed.

“It’s awesome considering my dad’s the coach,” said senior guard Taylor Stewart, who scored 16 points. “I don’t have words that describe how I feel right now.”

Smack dab in the middle of things for the Spartans was IML most valuable player Melissa Hopkins, a 5-foot-9 junior post who had a game-high 17 points to go with 12 rebounds.

Hopkins had 10 points during the Spartans’ fourth-quarter surge.

It was a timeout early in the period that Stewart pointed at as providing a turning point.

“We were starting to get on each others’ nerves a little bit and I took a timeout and we regrouped,” Stewart said. “We started kind of slow today. We talked about it at halftime that we need to bring the energy and focus on the next 16 minutes.”

Kellogg (18-9) fought the Spartans for a little more than three quarters before they seemed to fatigue.

“We just didn’t have our legs,” first-year Kellogg coach Jeff Lambert said. “It wasn’t our best game tonight and I don’t think we had our legs. We’re only seven or eight deep, as everybody can see, and I think maybe it caught up with us.”

Chelsea Morgan led Kellogg with 13 points and nine rebounds.

Another key contributor for Priest River was guard Tristan Troudt, who had seven steals, six rebounds, five assists and seven points.

State 4A

Bishop Kelly 50, Moscow 44: Julie Muguira scored 15 points and the Knights defeated the Bears (8-17) in the consolation final at Mountain View High. Moscow’s Abi Quinnett hit 8 of 10 from the floor and scored 19 points.

State 1A Division II

Summit Academy 39, Clark Fork 29: Rachel Wemhoff had 12 points, eight rebounds and five assists while leading the Patriots past the Wampus Cats (16-7) in the consolation final at Nampa High. Brocklynn Thornton led Clark Fork with nine points.