Second-quarter run pushes Timberlake past Sandpoint

SANDPOINT — Late in the first quarter of Thursday's game against Timberlake, Sandpoint girls basketball grabbed an 8-4 lead and it looked like they were starting to gain a stranglehold on the game.

But Timberlake's Taryn Soumas, the 2019-20 3A Girls Player of the Year, got back-to-back steals in the closing seconds of the quarter and the Tigers converted both into baskets to flip the game on its head.

Timberlake rode that momentum the rest of the game to capture a 42-28 win over the Bulldogs.

"With state championship teams like that ... you got to play 32 minutes," Sandpoint head coach Will Love said, "and you can't have any letdowns because they're the kind of kids that feast off of that. As soon as they see a little opportunity, they're going to take it."

The Tigers went on a 16-2 run to open the second quarter and took a 26-16 lead into the locker room.

Sandpoint struggled slowing down Timberlake's Blayre Jeffs and Brooke Jessen in the first half. Jessen led the team with 13 points and Jeffs tallied 8 points and five rebounds.

In the third quarter, both teams couldn't buy a basket due in large part to some aggressive defense. Timberlake took a 12-point advantage into the final frame.

There was still time for Sandpoint to mount a comeback, but early in the fourth quarter the offense stumbled. This allowed the Tigers to build a 42-20 lead. The Bulldogs first points of the quarter came with two minutes left when senior Hattie Larson knocked down a pair of free throws.

Those points sparked the Bulldogs and helped them narrow the deficit before the final whistle blew.

Love said his team started to figure things out on offense in the closing minutes, but right now "it's a work in progress."

"We don't want to focus on not having a summer, but with the group that we have there's some kids that it really would have benefited," he said. "What this team needs is just to play more games against competition. Obviously, we'll look at film and we'll continue to correct some things ... but with a conceptual offense like we run, it just takes a lot of time."

Larson led the Bulldogs with 8 points and seven rebounds. Kelsey Cessna, Daylee Driggs and Bella Phillips each scored 4 points, and Destiny Lyons, Karlie Banks, Sofia Platte and Kaylee Banks each made a basket. Platte also had four rebounds.

Only three players scored for Timberlake. Jessen finished with 15 points, seven assists and six rebounds, Jeffs tallied 15 points and nine rebounds and Soumas added 12 points, four rebounds and three steals.

Sandpoint had 20 turnovers in the game. Love said his team made a lot of uncharacteristic mistakes they need to clean up if they want to beat teams like Timberlake.

"They've got a lot of experience, so we needed to have a game where we didn't turn the basketball over as much as we did," he said. "I thought that was something that really hurt us in the first half."

Sandpoint (0-3, 0-1 IEL) heads to Lewiston at 3 p.m. Saturday.

Timberlake 8 18 6 10 — 42

Sandpoint 8 8 4 8 — 28

TIMBERLAKE — Soumas 12, Hammond 0, Kronenberg 0, Wall 0, Carhart 0, Jessen 15, Bain 0, Jeffs 15.

SANDPOINT — K. Cessna 4, Gammon 0, Driggs 4, Lyons 2, Tomco 0, R. Cessna 0, Phillips 4, Kar. Banks 2, Larson 8, Platte 2, Kay. Banks 2.