Priest River girls notch first win, stumble at Post Falls JV

POST FALLS — Priest River girls basketball couldn't recover from a slow start in a 72-22 loss at Post Falls JV on Tuesday night.

The Spartans trailed 34-16 at the half and only scored 6 points in the final eight minutes.

"We had the worst half of basketball in the second half," head coach Gary Stewart wrote in a text. "We had no energy and no effort."

Lilly Freitas and Makia Fitzmorris led the team with 6 points each. Hannah Palfrey and Abby Shockey each added 3.

Last Friday night, the Spartans walked into Clark Fork High and took care of the Wampus Cats 33-26 to secure their first victory of the season.

Stewart was proud of his team for holding on down the stretch.

"Obviously, it's nice," he said about getting a win. "I thought each Wallace game we had our shots and we just let it slip away in the fourth quarter."

Priest River stormed out to a 14-1 first quarter lead over Clark Fork. Fitzmorris scored 8 points in the opening quarter. The Spartans maintained that advantage for most of the game until the start of the fourth quarter.

Priest River's comfortable 13-point lead evaporated quickly when Clark Fork scored eight unanswered to make it 25-19.

Fortunately, Samantha Pound, Fitzmorris and Palfrey were able to bury some key shots down the stretch to help Priest River preserve the win.

"We kind of took it to them against their 1-3-1, and then they tightened up and we were like at a loss," Stewart said about Clark Fork's comeback attempt.

Fitzmorris had a monster game for the Spartans, tallying 17 points and 14 rebounds. Stewart said Fitzmorris showed a lot of leadership on the court.

"In years past she's always played wing," he said about Fitzmorris, "and I just decided she's pretty good around the rim and from 15 feet lets focus on that, and she's liking that role and I told her, 'If you're a good player you're demanding the ball,' and she'll go in the huddle and do that."

Palfrey stuffed the stat sheet with 8 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals. Allyson Barton added 6 points and five rebounds.

The Spartans (1-6) will host Clark Fork at 3 p.m. Friday in the opening game of the Priest River Tournament.

Home game postponed

The Priest River boys JV and varsity home basketball games against St. Maries have been postponed again. The games have been rescheduled for Thursday, Jan. 21. The boys will also take part in the tourney this weekend.

Priest River 14 7 4 8 — 33

Clark Fork 1 7 4 14 — 26

PRIEST RIVER — Rantala 0, Freitas 0, Pound 0, Burgess-Duquette 0, Fitzmorris 17, Thompson 0, Palfrey 8, Kingery 0, White 0, Barton 6.

CLARK FORK — Matteson 11, Valliere 5, Shelton 5, Reuter 2, Yancey 0, Hoffman 0, Mace 2, Fournier 1.

Priest River 5 11 3 3 — 22

Post Falls JV 23 34 31 7 — 72

PRIEST RIVER — Rantala 0, Freitas 6, Pound 0, Burgess-Duquette 0, Fitzmorris 6, Thompson 0, Palfrey 3, Kingery 2, White 2, Barton 0, Shockey 3.

POST FALLS JV — Greensky 4, Furr 0, Flerchinger 8, Brennan 16, Berg 4, Mclean 6, SiJohn 4, Maurer 6, Frazey 6.