Five Bulldogs win All-IEL awards

Five awards were handed out to Sandpoint High after winning the Bulldogs' first 4A Idaho State Championship title in history.

Bulldogs coach Will Love was awarded coach of the year, junior Aliya Strock was named player of the year and seniors Kelsey Cessna, Karlie Banks and Daylee Driggs were named to the IEL 4A all-league team.

Aliya Strock was in the headlines all season long, helping the Bulldogs to multiple clutch victories. As a player that seemed to have no weaknesses, Strock averaged 14.4 points per game, 4.5 rebounds per game, 2.3 assists per game, and 4.7 steals per game in the regular season.

“Aliya had a tremendous season as she was both a threat on offense and defense,” Love said. “Her ability to hit the 3 made her very difficult to guard because she is also quick to the basket. Defensively, Aliya managed to turn opponents over which led to a lot of transition points.”

All three Bulldog seniors were awarded all-league team status, and rightfully so.

Senior, and captain, Kelsey Cessna proved how powerful her leadership was throughout the season. Cessna averaged 12.8 points, 3.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 2.6 steals per game.

“Kelsey had a tremendous season on the offensive end. She shot well from 3, which also opened up driving lanes where she did an awesome job finishing,” Love said. “Kelsey also has a nose for the ball on the defensive end, which turned into a lot of transition baskets for her and her teammates.”

Karli Banks led the Bulldogs under the basket averaging 7.3 rebounds per game and 1.2 blocks per game. Proving to be an all-around stud for the team, Banks averaged 11.3 points per game.

“It was great having Karlie back this season. She has an inside-outside game that made her a hard player for opposing teams to guard because she could make it from well beyond the 3-point line,” Love said. “Karlie also played some tremendous post defense and led us in rebounding throughout the season.”

Senior captain Daylee Driggs was a close second to Banks with an average of 5.6 rebounds per game. Driggs seemed to be the glue for the Bulldogs averaging 9.8 points, 3.4 assists, and 2.2 steals per game.

“Daylee had a great season on both sides of the ball,” Love said. “Offensively, she stepped up her ability to create for her teammates, finishing with a positive assist-to-turnover ratio. Daylee was also the heart of our defense, often drawing the other team's best offensive player.”

Of course, none of this success could’ve come without great leadership from Sandpoint head coach, Will Love.

“He values everybody's input and has no problem talking through anything with us. He makes us all a part of it, all the way down to the freshman coach,” JV coach Joe Fata said. “He uses other coaches. At state, he called the Lake City coach and had him do some scouting for us and talked to a couple teams out of Boise for their input. It was amazing.”

Love, who is in his fifth year coaching for the Bulldogs, was awarded the 2022-2023 coach of the year, all-IEL.

“He’s such a great personality and he’s so friendly with everybody that he gets a lot of support and it makes him that much better," Fata said. "He makes me feel like I'm a part of the whole gig, that I’m not just the JV coach, that we were all part of the whole thing. He deserves this."

At the end of last season, Love had a talk with the girls about their goals. Whatever was said clearly worked. With the team's commitment and his direction, Sandpoint was able to bring home the first state basketball title ever – girls or boys.

With a 2022-2023 state championship title, Strock, Cessna, Banks, Driggs, Love, and the rest of the Bulldog team will forever be in the history books.