Balanced Bulldogs earn doubleheader sweep of Spartans

SANDPOINT — Facing the likes of state powers Coeur d’Alene, Lake City and Post Falls over the years, the Sandpoint girls have seen their share of running clocks in the fourth quarter.

On Tuesday night at Les Rogers Court, the Bulldogs (4-3) were on the right side of the running clock, downing Priest River 58-24 in a crisp, solid and efficient overall performance.

Hailey Olin drained back-to-back 3-pointers to start the third quarter, en route to a team-high 15 points, as the Bulldogs built a commanding 46-9 lead at one point.

“Our goal was 32 minutes. Against Post Falls it was six minutes, against Lake City it was 16 and tonight it was 30,” said Bulldogs head coach Bill Bender. “The kids have accepted some cornerstones that we’ve built — rebounds, turnovers and balanced scoring.”

Every Bulldog player scored, they dominated the glass and point guard Jordan Speelmon ran the offense to near perfection, limiting the turnovers that have plagued the team early in the season.

Nikole Alamillo added nine points and Emma Liband seven, and the two helped control the glass all night.

Bender praised the bench strength, solid point guard play and the shooting of Olin as keys to the win.

“Hailey went nuts early, and Jordan played exceptional,” said Bender, also lauding the play of his bigs on the blocks. “We’ve been working with Emma to be strong, while Nikole has that strength already.”

Melissa Trost scored nine points and Kelsey Bradbury added six for the Spartans (2-2), who had an off night shooting the basketball.

Sandpoint will face Pendleton in the opener of the Pendleton Tournament on Friday in Oregon.

Priest River   5    3     5    1 — 24

Sandpoint   13  13   22  10 — 58

PRIEST RIVER — Douglas 1, Trantum 2, Luckey 0, Trost 9, A. Pavey 0, S. Pavey 4, Deal 0, Bradbury 6, Summers 2.

SANDPOINT — Schoening 7, Corless 2, Liband 8, Young 5, Alamillo 9, Speelmon 4, Williams 2, Martin 2, Olin 15, Delgado.