Priest River presses past Lady Cats
Clark Fork's Paige Valliere (left) tries to fight off Priest River's Annika Rantala while dribbling up the court during Friday's game.
(Photo by DYLAN GREENE)
Eloise Shelton turns the corner on a screen set by one of her teammates during Friday's game against Priest River.
(Photo by DYLAN GREENE)
Hannah Palfrey pulls up and hits a jumper during Friday's game.
(Photo by DYLAN GREENE)
Eloise Shelton looks to pass the ball to a teammate on Friday.
(Photo by DYLAN GREENE)
Katelyn Matteson drives down the lane during Friday's game.
(Photo by DYLAN GREENE)
Makia Fitzmorris looks to pass the ball to a teammate on Friday.
(Photo by DYLAN GREENE)
Clark Fork's Katelyn Matteson (left) attempts to dribble down the court while Priest River's Hannah Palfrey defends her on Friday.
(Photo by DYLAN GREENE)
Priest River's Hannah Palfrey (left) attempts to slip a pass past Clark Fork's Katelyn Matteson on Friday.
(Photo by DYLAN GREENE)
Priest River's Samantha Pound (left) shoots over Clark Fork's Lily Reuter on Friday.
(Photo by DYLAN GREENE)
PRIEST RIVER — Priest River utilized a full-court press to shut down Clark Fork on Friday night and pull away for a 57-28 win in the opening game of the Spartan Christmas Tournament.
The Spartans forced 23 turnovers in the game and Lilly Freitas and Allyson Barton combined for 28 points.
"It was nice that we could rely on our full-court pressure to kind of distance ourselves from them," Priest River head coach Gary Stewart said after the game.
Clark Fork kept things close early and took a 10-9 lead after one quarter of action. Just a week ago, these two teams met at Clark Fork. In that game, Priest River jumped out to a commanding 14-1 first-quarter advantage en route to a 33-26 victory.
After the first quarter on Friday, Stewart said he asked his team if they were a little nervous and they admitted they were. He told them to relax and focus on defense, and it turned out pretty well.
"I just reminded them, 'Your defense will bring you back in games if you just believe in yourselves and make the effort,' so that was exciting for us," he said.
In the second quarter, the Spartans went on a 12-0 run to storm past the Lady Cats and take a 27-18 lead into the locker room. During that run, Freitas converted three steals into three buckets. She finished the night with 14 points, seven steals, five rebounds and three assists.
"That's what she offers our team is the ability to go get the ball," Stewart said about Freitas.
Priest River outscored Clark Fork 30-10 in the second half.
Clark Fork head coach Jordan Adams said the Spartans' press really impacted her team's ability to get in a rhythm offensively. Once again, Adams said the game came down to a lack of experience.
"Left and right our team has more heart than any team we've played against, but it just comes down to fundamentals," she said.
Last night, Priest River played a JV game against Wallace and won 53-18. Stewart said that game gave his five freshmen and three sophomores a lot of confidence and they carried that into the tournament against Clark Fork.
"They won big and that was an eye opener for them," he said.
Barton, a freshman, recorded a double-double, tallying 14 points and 14 rebounds to lead the Spartans. Freshman Samantha Pound had 10 points and four steals, Sophomore Addison Kingery scored 8 points and senior Hannah Palfrey added 7 points and nine rebounds.
Katelyn Matteson hit a trio of 3-pointers and led Clark Fork with 9 points and eight rebounds. Lily Reuter tallied 8 points, six rebounds, three steals and two assists, Paige Valliere had four points and Emily Myers added 3.
Priest River (2-6) will take on North Idaho Christian School in the Spartan Christmas Tournament championship game at 5 p.m. Saturday. Clark Fork (2-4) plays the Post Falls C team at 2 p.m. in a consolation game.
Clark Fork 10 8 7 3 — 28
Priest River 9 18 22 8 — 57
CLARK FORK — Matteson 9, Valliere 4, Myers 3, Shelton 1, Reuter 8, Yancey 2, Mace 1, Fournier 0.
PRIEST RIVER — Rantala 2, Freitas 14, Pound 10, Burgess-Duquette 0, Fitzmorris 0, Thompson 0, Palfrey 7, Kingery 8, White 0, Barton 14, Shockey 2.
