4A REGION 1 GIRLS BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: Lakeland's dream run ends
MARK NELKE | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 10 years, 11 months AGO
<p>Lakeland’s Emily Vanderhoof dribbles around Sandpoint’s defense Wednesday during the 3A region 1 championship game.</p>
Mark Nelke covers high school and North Idaho College sports, University of Idaho football and other local/regional sports as a writer, photographer, paginator and editor at the Coeur d’Alene Press. He has been at The Press since 1998 and sports editor since 2002. Before that, Mark was the one-man sports staff for 16 years at the Bonner County Daily Bee in Sandpoint. Earlier, he was sports editor for student newspapers at Spokane Falls Community College and Eastern Washington University. Mark enjoys the NCAA men's basketball tournament and wiener dogs — and not necessarily in that order. | February 13, 2014 8:00 PM
COEUR d'ALENE - The Lakeland Hawks hoped they had another night of magic in them.
But the Sandpoint Bulldogs had other ideas.
Sophomore Madi Schoening scored 22 points as the top-seeded Bulldogs jumped on top early and beat the third-seeded Hawks 63-47 in the championship game of the 4A Region 1 girls basketball tournament Wednesday night at North Idaho College's Rolly Williams Court.
"We played really well at times," said Lakeland coach Steve Seymour, whose team upended No. 2 seed Moscow 52-42 in the semifinals Monday night.
"Sandpoint got out to a quick start; the last game, we were the quick-start team. Sandpoint's a talented team; you get in a hole like that, and whatever you're planning on, you're in a little bit of a scramble mode."
Sandpoint (13-7) advances to state next week at Mountain View High in Meridian. The Bulldogs open next Thursday at 5:15 p.m. PST vs. the runner-up from the District 5-6 tournament.
Lakeland finished 4-18.
It is believed to be Sandpoint's first regional title since 1982.
Senior post Kelly Ramus kept Lakeland in the game in the first half, scoring all 14 of her points in the first half. Emily Vanderhoof and Haley Rotchford added eight points each for the Hawks, who kept battling back, only to see Sandpoint answer with a momentum-stopping play.
Schoening had 13 of her points in the first half for the Bulldogs. She had nine of Sandpoint's first 13, as the Bulldogs built a 13-4 lead. Lakeland pulled within three late in the half, but Sandpoint finished the half on a 10-3 run to lead 31-21 at the break.
Sandpoint built a 40-24 lead midway through the third quarter, but Lakeland stayed in it by forcing Sandpoint into 21 turnovers. A 3-pointer by Vanderhoof pulled the Hawks within 41-33 late in the third quarter, but the Bulldogs weathered that threat, and led by at least 10 points throughout the fourth quarter.
"We're most comfortable playing up-tempo," second-year Sandpoint coach Bill Bender said. "But tonight we were playing up-tempo, then slowing it down, and the slowdown took us out of our rhythm. Madi stepped up, and the kids that came in off the bench came in and gave us some huge minutes."
Nikole Alamillo added 15 points and eight rebounds for Sandpoint, Emily Chatburn had eight, and Hailey Olin and Maryah Delgado scored seven each. Olin grabbed nine rebounds.
Kaidan Kelsey had eight rebounds for Lakeland.
"Hailey, Madi and Maryah all played big. It's great to see this," Bender said, watching the Bulldog players celebrate at midcourt.
Lakeland 10 11 12 14 - 47
Sandpoint 16 15 14 18 - 63
LAKELAND - Vanderhoof 8, Price 2, Linehan 4, Kelsey 5, Fahlenkamp 3, Rotchford 8, Seymour 3, Bodak 0, Kirk 0, Bunch 0, Ramus 14, Bilski 0.
SANDPOINT - Corless 0, Wiliams 2, Schoening 22, Liband 0, Olin 7, Chatburn 8, Martin 2, Delgado 7, Sundquist 0, Tokimori 0, Couch 0, Alamillo 15, Bluemer 0, Robertson 0.
4A ALL-INLAND EMPIRE LEAGUE TEAM
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER - Hailey Olin, sr., Sandpoint.
NEWCOMERS OF THE YEAR - Morgan Bluemer, jr., Sandpoint; and Monica Burnette, sr., Moscow.
COACH OF THE YEAR - Bill Bender, Sandpoint
ALL-LEAGUE - Maryah Delgado, sr., Sandpoint; Jada Simpson, so., Moscow; Kelly Ramus, sr., Lakeland; Nikole Alamillo, sr., Sandpoint; Kaidan Kelsey, jr., Lakeland.
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“I’ve been very impressed by Zach’s natural ability to rush the passer,” Eck said. “And he’s worked hard on his body, he’s up to about 222 pounds now, and I really think he can be a difference maker for us. He’s still doing some things with the linebackers, but I think his speed can give some offensive linemen problems (as an edge rusher).”
THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Journey to a title in Bonners — with a brief stop in Cd’A
“The whole process has been completely amazing,” said Nathan Williams, now in his fourth season as the Badgers boys basketball coach. “And the parents … it’s an hour and a half to Spokane, Coeur d’Alene, when we’d play an AAU game, and an hour and a half back, and there were so many times there was 6, 8 inches of snow. And we’ve got a game at 8 a.m. They’d always schedule us at 8 a.m., coming from Bonners. So we’re waking up at 5 … it was crazy. But the commitment from the parents and the kids has been amazing.”