Priest River unable to pickup win over three tough opponents

After falling to Kellogg 48-17 on Tuesday night, the Spartans find themselves on their second four-game losing streak this season.

But given the level of competition Priest River saw over that stretch of games, its no surprise.

On Saturday, an energized Spartans team headed to Lakeside, a 12-3 1A Division II team, and gave the Knights everything they could handle.

Priest River led 24-22 at halftime thanks in large part to the play of senior Karah Fink who scored 13 points in the first half. But the Spartans were only able to muster 13 points in the final 16 minutes of action and fell 43-37.

“This was the first game we played man to man defense and we played it the entire game,” head coach Gary Stewart wrote in a text. “It got better as the game progressed, however, Karah [Fink] and Maddy [Rusho] fouled out halfway through the fourth quarter.”

Stewart said he was encouraged by his team’s play in the first half and tried to use the game to prepare for the league tournament by testing out a few different schemes.

Junior Hannah Palfrey scored 10 points in the game and senior Adrie Minish added 6.

Priest River faced another tough opponent last Thursday night when they traveled to league rival Bonners Ferry.

It didn’t take long for the Badgers to gain control of the game as they took a 19-2 first quarter lead. By halftime, the Spartans trailed 43-8.

Coming out of the locker room, Priest River was able to outscore its opponent 14-12 but by then it was too late.

“We had trouble with their 2-2-1 press the whole night and couldn’t handle the pressure on the offensive end,” Stewart wrote. “The bright spot was at the end of the third we were able to get the ball inside and get some points and shoot some free throws.”

The Spartans (3-12, 0-4 IML) hosts North Idaho Christian 5:30 p.m. Thursday and Bonners Ferry at the same time Saturday. They also head to Timberlake 7 p.m. next Tuesday.