Second quarter surge pushes Vikings past Bulldogs in IEL opener
SANDPOINT — The Vikings turned Tuesday's game on its head in an instant.
Early on, Sandpoint was dictating play and making Coeur d'Alene, one of the best 5A teams in the state, grind out every possession and earn every point.
Well entering the second quarter with the score tied at 6-6, the Vikings decided they were fed up with the Bulldogs controlling the pace and they flipped a switch.
Coeur d'Alene ratcheted up its intensity and physicality with a full-court press and just like that they turned a tie game into a 20-point halftime advantage.
The 24-point second quarter from the Vikings allowed them to cruise to a 58-27 victory over the Bulldogs in the 5A-4A Inland Empire League opener for both squads.
Sandpoint silenced the Vikings transition game in the opening quarter, but eight Bulldog turnovers in the second quarter allowed Coeur d'Alene to get out and run, and that's what they thrive on.
"If you turn the ball it's going to create all kinds of issues and it's going to give momentum to the other team," Sandpoint head coach Will Love said. "Coeur d'Alene's got two Division I players on their roster (Madi Symons and Skylar Burke), so you can't make mistakes and expect them not to capitalize on it."
The Vikings closed the second quarter on a 17-1 run and Burke scored 10 of game-high 26 points in the quarter. Burke also had seven rebounds and three steals.
"We kind of let her get away in that second quarter," Love said about Burke.
After watching Coeur d'Alene storm past them just before the half, the Bulldogs couldn't have let up coming out of the locker room, but they didn't. Instead, they put together one of their best quarters of the season.
Sandpoint outscored the Vikings 14-13 in the third quarter. This was the Bulldogs' third game against a 5A IEL school and Love said he feels like his young team is starting to understand the tempo at which the 5As play at.
"We're showing signs that we can compete at a level that the 5As have, its just part of the process and we have to keep building on it," he said.
For most of Tuesday's game, Sandpoint played excellent half-court defense and stifled the Vikings at times. Coeur d'Alene head coach Nicole Symons wasn't surprised by the defensive effort the Bulldogs brought to the court.
"Coach Love always gets his girls to play really hard and I just don't think we were ready for that," she said. "They got up in our faces a little bit."
Daylee Driggs led Sandpoint with 8 points and six rebounds. Kelsey Cessna scored 7 points and Tru Tomco, Lily Richardson, Destiny Lyons and Sofia Platte each had 3. Platte and Tomco both grabbed seven rebounds.
Symons finished with 14 points, eight rebounds and two steals for Coeur d'Alene and Madison Mitchell had 7 points, seven assists and three steals.
Sandpoint (2-3, 0-1 IEL) hosts Post Falls at 7 p.m. Friday.
Coeur d'Alene 6 24 13 15 — 58
Sandpoint 6 4 14 3 — 27
COEUR d'ALENE — Bengtson 0, Mitchell 7, Awbery 5, Symons 14, Jones 0, Shebala 0, Naccarato 0, Holecek 6, Phenicie 0, Carroll 0, Burke 26.
SANDPOINT — K. Cessna 7, De. Driggs 0, Da. Driggs 8, P. Cessna 0, Tomco 3, Richardson 3, Owens 0, Strock 0, Lyons 3, Platte 3.
