Turnovers, poor shooting plague Priest River in 50-19 loss to Lakeside
(Photo by DYLAN GREENE) Junior Makia Fitzmorris dribbles down court while looking for an open teammate Saturday night against Lakeside.
PRIEST RIVER — It was an ugly game Saturday night in Priest River as the girls basketball team fell 50-19 to Lakeside in their home opener.
Priest River head coach Gary Stewart said he talked to his team after the game about their offensive struggles.
“I just spent 15 minutes talking to the girls about what we’re going to do to generate points whether that’s in pressure or going strictly with a low post game,” Stewart said. “It’s tough but again its a long season. We’re two games into a 20 game season.”
The Spartans (0-2) stumbled in the first quarter, turning the ball over 12 times and only scoring 4 points. Fortunately, the Knights (2-0) had a hard time finding a basket in the first eight minutes as well and Priest River only trailed by 6 after one quarter.
But the second quarter didn’t get any better for the Spartans as they were outscored 14-7 and trailed 24-11 at the half.
The second half saw Lakeside step up its game and the Spartans continue to struggle. Priest River only managed to score 8 points in the final 16 minutes of action allowing the Knights to secure the victory.
Stewart said not being able to score hurt the Spartans defensive effort.
“Shots aren’t dropping and suddenly you’re not hustling on defense, you’re not blocking out so its just a snowball effect,” he said. “It seemed like every quarter it just got worse and worse and worse.”
Senior Karah Fink led the Spartans with 10 points and 16 rebounds. Lakeside senior Samantha Adrian had 11 points and sophomore Jolissa Holt added 10 points.
Priest River finished with 22 turnovers in the game.
“It’s just frustrating when you’re not competitive in a game,” Stewart said, “and the turnovers are totally mental. It wasn’t like Lakeside was coming at us with full court pressure, we were just shooting ourselves in the foot all night.”
The Spartans take on North Idaho Christian on Tuesday, Dec. 2.
PRIEST RIVER 4 7 2 6 — 19
LAKESIDE 10 14 16 10 — 50
PRIEST RIVER — Rusho 4, Pound 0, Fink 10, Fitzmorris 0, Radan 0, Palfrey 3, Minish 0, Soccamanno 2.
LAKESIDE — Daniels 0, Jo. Holt 10, St. Pierre 0, Middleton 0, As. Holt 4, Adrian 11, Matt 0, Gorr 8, Peters 7, Anderson 8, Allen 2.