By JORDAN RODRIGUEZ
Special to the Spokesman Review
BOISE—For the second consecutive night Friday, the Sandpoint girls basketball team put forth a solid effort at the 4A state tournament.
But this time, against a hungry, experienced and top-ranked Century squad, the Bulldogs’ feisty performance wasn’t enough. Century’s backcourt duo of Rian Rawlings and Sarah Holt teamed up to score 34 points and the Diamondbacks used a decisive third-quarter run to pull away for a 60-44 semifinal victory at Timberline High.
“They’re a very good ball club,” Sandpoint coach Duane Ward said. “They’re big up front. I thought we battled hard on the boards and played pretty good basketball, but when the ball doesn’t go in the hole, it makes things difficult.”
Junior wing Madi Schoening scored 22 points to lead the Bulldogs, who went blow-for-blow with Century in the first half. It was a 25-23 game going into the locker room, but Century took command with an 18-3 third-quarter run.
Schoening and the Bulldogs tried to chip away at the lead in the fourth, but the deficit proved too big to overcome.
“Basketball is a game of runs,” Ward said. “We paid the price in the second half for the shots we missed in the first half. We didn’t have the cushion to withstand their run when they made it.”
Sandpoint senior Lily Martin scored eight points and senior Elani Williams chipped in six. The scrappy Bulldogs battled the much taller Diamondbacks to a virtual stalemate on the boards, but they could not overcome a cold shooting night (31 percent) or 21 turnovers.
Rawlings scored 20 points and Holt added 14 for the Diamondbacks, who advance to face Skyview in Saturday’s 6 p.m. championship game at the Idaho Center in Nampa. Century (21-3) was the tournament favorite coming in, and the Diamondbacks have validated their lofty ranking with two impressive wins.
“We’ve been communicating and working together as a team,” Rawlings said. “We have a lot of [state] experience, and we know what it takes to get it done.”
Century is seeking its first state championship after losing the title game in 2013.
Sandpoint, meanwhile, already has improved upon last year’s two-and-out performance at state. The Bulldogs (14-9) play Rigby (16-8) in the 11 a.m. third-place game Saturday at Timberline, and the chance to bring home some hardware is not lost on Ward’s team.
“I’m proud of the way our team played,” Schoening said. “In the second half, our defense broke down a little bit, but we kept fighting. We’re ready for tomorrow. We want to come out and get that win and take a trophy back home for our community.”