Cd'A girls defeat Sandpoint

SANDPOINT — Coeur d'Alene and their breakneck tempo offense ran past host Sandpoint 66-45 Monday night in Inland Empire League action at Les Rogers Court.

Andrew Prohaska, Leon Duplessis and Austin Heleker each poured in 13 points to lead a very balanced Viking (5-1, 2-0) scoring attack. Nate Bligh added 12 points and six rebounds as the Vikings ratcheted up their defense, holding the Bulldogs (3-1, 0-1) to a mere three points in a pivotal second quarter.

"Coeur d'Alene likes to get you in a hectic, frantic pace," said Bulldogs' coach Tyler Haynes. "Once you beat their pressure, you need to get good looks and we didn't do that. They're a very good team."

Pete Gibson had a stellar night in the loss, scoring a game-high 20 points to go with seven rebounds. Sandpoint was able to score in spurts, but had trouble finding a consistent offensive rhythm. Spencer Swerin added 10 points and Ryan Armbruster tallied seven rebounds and five assists to pace Sandpoint.

The Vikings rely heavily on the 3-pointer, and struggled from behind the arc for most of the game. They scored the majority of their points in transition, where they ran so much it caused a Bulldog player to vomit. After the 10-minute delay to mop the court, the Bulldogs scored nine unanswered points to cut the lead to single digits with three minutes to play, before the Vikings finally put the game away late.

"Our kids played hard, they just didn't play smart," Haynes said. "These are things we can correct."

The bulldogs play Lakeside, Wash., tonight at 5 p.m. in the Cheney Tournament.

Coeur d'Alene— 20 15 16 15 — 66

Sandpoint — 15 3 16 11 — 45

COEUR d'ALENE — Prohaska 13, Clinton 2, Duplessis 13, Ahhee 6, Peterson 4, Carlson 0, Heleker 13, Bligh 12, Mitchell 0, Spurr 3.

SANDPOINT — Allen 4, Armbruster 0, Bessler 0, Hanson 4, K. Gibson 0, P. Gibson 20, Lawrence 4, Meaux 3, Swerin 10.