Sandpoint locks down Moscow, advances to regional title series

SANDPOINT — Sandpoint girls basketball punched its ticket to the 4A Region 1 championship series on Monday night.

The Bulldogs took care of Moscow 44-29 in a district loser-out game at Les Rogers Court to set up a title match showdown with Lakeland.

The Sandpoint defense proved to be the difference against the Bears. SHS forced 23 turnovers and held Moscow to just 14 points in the second half.

The Bulldogs swept the regular season series with the Bears, but just nine days ago Moscow walked onto Les Rogers Court and pushed Sandpoint to its limit. SHS escaped that day with a 48-44 victory, but the Bears proved they would not be an easy out once the district tournament rolled around.

Sandpoint didn't take its league foe lightly on Monday and the team learned from their mistakes.

"We made a couple of adjustments based on some things that they hurt us with and it obviously worked out," head coach Will Love said about the defensive game plan. "The girls executed it about as well as you can."

The Bulldogs also improved their shooting from the free-throw line. In the matchup with the Bears on Jan. 30, SHS hit just six of its 17 free attempts. On Monday, Sandpoint hit 22 of 29.

"I give a lot of credit to the girls because they stepped up and made those shots," Love said about the improvement from the free-throw line. "That was a good sign and we made a bunch of free throws throughout the game which makes things easier."

Nine of those made free throws came from senior Hattie Larson. She came up huge for the Bulldogs in the clutch and knocked down six shots from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter.

Love said Larson was confident all night at the free-throw line.

"I'm really happy for her because she's been working hard throughout this season," he said, "and it can be frustrating when you're putting in that time and not seeing the results, but Hattie's not the kind of kid to quit."

The stakes were high in the district loser-out game and so was the energy inside Les Rogers Court.

Early on, the Bulldogs were able to use the home court to their advantage and take an 8-1 lead midway through the first quarter. But then the Bears loosened up the vaunted Sandpoint defense by hitting back-to-back 3-pointers and trailed 10-9 after eight minutes of action.

Both teams struggled offensively in the second quarter and Sandpoint carried a 17-15 lead into halftime.

In the third quarter, the Bulldogs took over and locked down the Bears. Moscow's first basket of the quarter came with just 28 seconds left in the period. During that time, SHS went on a 14-1 run to distance themselves.

In the second half, Love spread the floor with all five players on the perimeter and that really opened up things offensively for the Bulldogs, he said.

"We went from our regular four-out to our five-out because Moscow really wants to pack the middle ... and so we were able to move Bella [Phillips] and Sofia [Platte] out," he said, "and give more of that spacing which allowed — off of some reversals — some openings that just weren't there in the first half and that allowed us to attack."

With about three minutes left in the fourth quarter, Moscow started fouling to try and extend the game, but the Bulldogs shut the door on that and closed out the victory.

Larson finished with a game-high 17 points. She also had seven rebounds and two steals. Kaylee Banks had eight points and five steals, Karlie Banks tallied seven points and four rebounds, Daylee Driggs recorded four points and three steals and Phillips added four points and six rebounds.

Now Sandpoint (9-9), the two seed, heads to No. 1 Lakeland at 6 p.m. Wednesday for Game 1 of the best-of-3 4A Region 1 championship series.

The rivals split their two regular season meetings and Love said the Bulldogs will be highly motivated to steal home court from the Hawks and bring the series back to Les Rogers Court.

"It's going to be a battle, I know that," Love said. "We've got a lot of respect for the Lakeland program and we know they are going to come out and give us their best."

Moscow 9 6 6 8 — 29

Sandpoint 10 7 14 13 — 44

MOSCOW — A. Lassen 5, Heyns 9, Gray 8, Nauman 1, Watson 2, J. Lassen 0, Berg 0, Anderson 4.

SANDPOINT — Gammon 0, Driggs 4, Strock 0, Reinink 0, Lyons 2, Tomco 0, Cessna 2, Phillips 4, Kar. Banks 7, Larson 17, Platte 0, Banks 8.