Plenty at stake for Sandpoint basketball teams today
SANDPOINT — Despite already winning the regular season league title and earning the No. 1 seed to the regional tournament, Sandpoint girls basketball still has plenty to play for tonight against Moscow.
With a win, the Bulldogs would wrap a perfect 4-0 record in league this season. Based on the regional tournament rules, if a team finishes the regular season undefeated in league play they earn the right to host the best-of-three championship series on their home court.
That’s what would happen for Sandpoint (13-7, 3-0 IEL) if they can take down Moscow for the second time this season at 4:30 p.m. today.
But let’s say the Bulldogs fall to the 1-13 Bears on Saturday. What happens then? In that case, Sandpoint would still host the first game of the championship series 6 p.m. Tuesday at Les Rogers Court against the winner of Monday’s play-in game between Lakeland and Moscow. But if they were to lose the first or second game of the district championship series then they would have to travel to that team’s venue and beat them.
For example, if Lakeland makes it to the championship series and then beats Sandpoint at Les Rogers Court in the first game, the Bulldogs would have to travel to Rathdrum for the second game. They would then have to beat the Hawks on their home floor to force a winner-take-all third game that would be contested in Sandpoint.
An even worse scenario would be if the Bulldogs lost the second game of that series because then they would have to beat the Hawks in Rathdrum in a decisive third game with a trip to state on the line.
So clearly, this game is important. And head coach Will Love and his players have been anxiously waiting since last Saturday’s 41-34 win at Moscow to get on the court and complete a sweep of the Bears.
After that game, Love said the players were asking a number of questions about the regional tournament and what a perfect league season would do for them.
It’s evident that the Bulldogs want it, now they just have to go out and get it.
On the boys side, Sandpoint is winless through two league games but if they can knock off Moscow, they will prevent the Bears from securing home court advantage in the best-of-three championship series.
The Bulldogs are also seeking their first regular season league win in three years after finishing IEL play in 2017, 2018 and 2019 with an 0-4 record.
A win against Moscow would end that streak and setup a pivotal game at Lakeland on Thursday. If Sandpoint beats the Bears and the Hawks, they would earn the No. 2 seed to the regional tournament and host Lakeland in the district championship play-in game on Monday, Feb. 24.
With a loss to Moscow, Sandpoint could still earn the No. 3 seed to regionals if they beat Lakeland and edge out the Hawks in a scoring differential tiebreaker.
But the Bulldogs (8-9)certainly won’t be intimidated by Moscow after nearly knocking them off at the Bear Den on Jan. 9.
Game in and game out this season, Sandpoint has proven they can compete with any team in North Idaho regardless of classification. Unfortunately, the only thing that has prevented the Bulldogs from doing just that is injuries. It’s been a problem all season but more recently has forced the Bulldogs to play with only seven or eight players.
But head coach Wade Engelson has made it clear that his team isn’t letting injuries prevent them reaching their goal of getting back to state.
And young players like freshmen Arie VanDenBerg and Colin Roos have shown all year they can be the difference for Sandpoint in tight games.
It should also be noted that the team has already bested their win total from last season.
Tipoff for the boys game is set for 6 p.m. at Les Rogers Court.
