Girls basketball primed for Paddle victory

SANDPOINT — Sandpoint girls basketball couldn’t come into tonight’s matchup with Lakeland playing at a higher level.

The Bulldogs are fresh off their largest victory of the season Tuesday against Bonners Ferry. It was arguably Sandpoint’s best game of the season and it couldn’t have come at a better time with the rival Hawks coming to town.

“Against Bonners Ferry, I think we did the stuff we know we can do for a full 32 minutes,” senior Dawson Driggs said.

Head coach Will Love said the Bulldogs utilized the game with the Badgers as a tune up for Friday’s game by trying a few things out they’ve been working on in practice in preparation for playing Lakeland. And it sure worked.

Driggs said the performance helped the team build some confidence and now Sandpoint is hoping that execution carries over into the Battle for the Paddle.

“I definitely think there’s two ways it can go,” she said. “We can either keep building our momentum and playing strong or we can just get overly confident.”

Time will tell but there is one player Sandpoint will need to shut down if they want avenge last year’s 49-35 loss — Katy Ryan.

Ryan was the league MVP last season and she’s continued her dominance so far this season. The biggest problem Ryan will present for the Bulldogs is her height at 6-foot-4-inches.

“She’s one of the best players in North Idaho,” Love said. “She’s a heck of an athlete that presents a lot of problems for a team that has one kid that’s 6-foot so that’s going to have to be something we have to work on.”

Senior Maddie Morgan said the Bulldogs need to contain her in the post and frustrate her to make the other players on the team beat them.

But Love said the Hawks have plenty of experienced players that are capable of having big games so they can’t focus solely on Ryan.

Sandpoint will also offer to deal with the noise from the crowd. Love said the team has been working on some quick plays to get baskets since practice on Saturday to help deal with the communication issues. He also said the team has turned up the music pretty loud at practice throughout season to try a simulate the atmosphere.

“It’s a whole different dynamic because if you think you’re going to tell a kid 60 feet away to cover somebody or switch, it’s just not going to happen,” Love said about the expected noise.

One thing Love wants his players to avoid doing is getting too amped up because he’s seen kids be overwhelmed by the moment. He said he wants them to play within themselves and use the adrenaline they have throughout the game to their advantage.

“I’m really pleased with the way that we’ve progressed throughout the season,” Love said. “They have improved throughout the year and worked really hard with the idea of putting themselves in a position to win the league title so Friday will show us where we’re at.”

The girls will be the first of the three Sandpoint teams to get a crack at toppling Lakeland with tipoff set for 4 p.m.

Driggs said she is looking forward to having home court advantage this time around after the Bulldogs fell behind 20 points early in last year’s game.

“It’s going to be interesting,” she said. “It’s kind of going to set the whole tone for league play.”

For Morgan, Driggs and the rest of the seniors on the team, this game presents the opportunity to notch a Battle for the Paddle win in their final season with the team.

Driggs and Morgan have been a part of a team that beat Lakeland before, but they both admitted it would be extra special to knock them off as seniors.

“I remember freshman year my first varsity minutes were at Battle of the Paddle,” Morgan said. “I was just this wide-eyed, nervous freshman who was just ready to get rid of the ball and now I’ve grown so much as a player and I’m ready to take over and play really well and get the win. I’m so excited. It’s crazy how three years has gone by and this is my last one.”