Bears Capture Crown Bonners Ferry, Priest River Battle Today For District’s Other State Berth
Anticlimactic as it was, the Moscow High School girls basketball team played too much like the underdog and not the odds-off-the-board favorite Friday in the A-1 District I-II Tournament championship game.
At least that’s what the Bears’ toughest critic thought.
Still, as nervous as Bears coach Sally Greene said her team was, Moscow was too much for the upstart Priest River Spartans.
Posting its 20th straight win since a season-opening loss, Moscow captured a fifth consecutive district title with a runaway 64-32 win at Post Falls High School.
In the preliminary loser-out game, Bonners Ferry avoided an upset and rallied behind the 3-point shooting of Sarah Walter to top Lakeland 41-38 in a game that featured a frantic finish.
Moscow (20-1 overall) will meet the winner of a playoff today between Shelley (18-7) and Snake River (8-13) in the first round of the state tournament, which begins a three-day run Thursday at Wendell High School near Twin Falls.
Bonners Ferry (14-7), Intermountain League runner-up, will take on Priest River (12-9) this afternoon for the district’s second berth to state. Tipoff at Post Falls is at 1.
Priest River upset Bonners Ferry 38-35 Wednesday to advance to the title game.
Moscow 64, Priest River 32
The Bears wanted to make quick work of the Spartans. For several reasons - not the least of which was they had reservations for a late-night celebration dinner at Tomato Bros., an Italian restaurant in Coeur d’Alene.
The game was over early, literally and figuratively. But somebody forgot to tell the Spartans they didn’t have a chance to win.
Heck, Priest River coach Ron Hopkins didn’t even realize until told afterward that his team went scoreless in the second quarter.
“My girls were not nervous, and they won’t be nervous (today),” Hopkins said. “I never have to worry about my girls’ effort.”
A 9-0 spurt midway through the first quarter by the Bears essentially decided the game - at least on the scoreboard. Moscow outscored the Spartans 14-0 in the second quarter to take a 33-10 lead at halftime.
Priest River went scoreless for 12:02, finally breaking the drought when Missy Ennis, who played well, hit a 15-foot jumper at 4:53 of the third quarter.
By then Moscow led 37-12.
“I was pleased with our first-half effort, but I’ve got to give Priest River credit,” Greene said. “I thought they played really hard. I thought they outhustled us the second half and, to be quite honest, I was a little disappointed with our play in the second half.
“I didn’t feel we played with the level of intensity that we’re capable of and I felt we were a little tight all night. We didn’t play defense as well as we usually do. We can’t go down to state and do that.”
Jenny Moslemi led Moscow with 19 points and Angie Sorbel added 16. Ennis led the Spartans with 10.
Moscow 64, Priest River 32
Priest River 10 0 12 10 - 32
Moscow 19 14 13 18 - 64
PRIEST RIVER Go 2, M. Ruiz 3, Stensland 0, Reed 1, K. Ruiz 6, Ennis 10, Suchocki 4, Duley 2, Rasmussen 4, Vogrig 0, Cary 0, White 0.
MOSCOW Meyer 2, Moslemi 19, Scholz 0, Lemm 6, Sorbel 16, Gibson 8, Wilder 4, Ta. Goetz 3, Reynolds 3, To. Goetz 2.
Bonners Ferry 41, Lakeland 38
Walter, the shortest player on the floor at 5-foot-3, was towering in the final 3 minutes.
Walter’s 3-pointer tied the score 38-38 with 25 seconds left, and she then took a pass from Becky Bateman and swished a game-winning 3-pointer with 7 seconds remaining.
Walter made three 3-pointers and a field goal as she scored 13 of her game-high 15 points in the fourth period.
Trailing 20-11 going into the third quarter, Lakeland took advantage of the Badgers’ cold shooting. Bonners Ferry scored just two points in the period as the Hawks trimmed the lead to 22-21 with a quarter to play.
Lakeland used two free throws from Jamie Harwood with 3:44 left to take a 31-25 lead. A basket by Amber Jamison kept the margin at six points, 34-28, with 2:48 remaining.
That’s when Walter took over. She made a 9-foot jumper and followed with the first of her 3-pointers at 1:49 to slice the Hawks’ lead to 34-33.
“It’s not the same team from league,” Bonners Ferry coach Jim Nash said of his Badgers. “That’s what the tournament’s about, facing the pressure. We were scared.”
Jamison led Lakeland (4-16) with nine points.
Bonners Ferry 6 14 2 19 - 41
Lakeland 6 5 10 17 - 38
BONNERS FERRY Walter 15, Bateman 10, Larson 0, Paulson 2, Downing 0, Knott 6, Ripatti 7, Comer 0, Braniff 1, Carey 0.
LAKELAND Reed 2, Foldvik 5, Douglas 6, Jamison 9, Boone 0, Meyer 0, Dengel 3, Hall 6, Harwood 7, DeBoer 0.
All-IML team
Moscow placed three players on the all-league team, including most valuable player Amy Lemm.
The team is voted by the coaches. Joining Lemm on the team were: teammates Jenny Moslemi and Angie Sorbel; Missy Ennis and Sara Suchocki of Priest River; Amber Jamison of Lakeland; Amy Lemon of Kellogg; Amanda Tams of St. Maries; and Amber Paulson and Denelle Ripatti of Bonners Ferry.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo