For a moment, it looked like the Priest River Spartans wouldn’t give a warm welcome to former PRHS basketball standout Natalie Petit during her return in a red-and-white uniform.

Aided by Sandpoint’s sluggish start and by being patient on offense, the Spartans jumped out to a 7-2 lead in first quarter. But they couldn’t keep their momentum, as the Spartans fell 51-29 on Tuesday night.

“We had a hard time running our offense,” Priest River head coach Morgan Douglas said. “Our girls tend to get a bit frazzled and they try to freelance, but we’re not a time that can freelance. We just have to stay focused the whole game, run our sets and learn not to be engaged for just a quarter.”

From the jump, Sandpoint’s movement on offense didn’t inspire confidence for a team coming off its first win of the season. Priest River’s defense put the clamps on the Bulldogs until the 5:17 mark, and even those points had to be earned. Hattie Larson’s free throws kicked off an 11-0 run that sealed the deal.

“[Priest River] was ready to play and we were not,” Sandpoint head coach Will Love said. “I could tell in the layup lines that we were a bit sluggish. I give a lot of credit to Priest River because they came out and executed their stuff.”

Unlike Sandpoint’s performances so far, the Priest River game was won by its defense.

Tuesday’s game marked the second straight game in which Sandpoint used a man-to-man defense, which held Priest River to shooting 1-16 from inside the arc in the first half.

In time, the Bulldogs’ more athletic guards took control of the game, starting with the defensive efforts from Aly Lish, Izzo Edwards and Brooklen Steiger. Love said afterwards that the defensive switch has helped some Bulldogs show off their athletic abilities.

“Now that we’ve got the man defense, it allows [Lish and Edwards] to shine and show off their athletic abilities,” Love said. “And they want to be good defenders, which is huge.”

Edwards, Lish and Steiger each had three steals apiece en route to a team-wide 16 steal performance. On offense, Maddie Morgan found her rhythm in the the second quarter with a pair of threes for a game-high 11 points. Priest River’s Jasmine Martin and Karah Fink had eight point apiece — both of whom were cited by Douglas after the game.

“Jasmine had a really good game,” Douglas said. “It seemed like she flipped a switch. She was diving after the ball and being a leader out there. She had less turnovers than she’s had in the previous games, which is awesome. Sandpoint’s defense was good, so it was hard to get Karah the ball.”

Fink finished with a team-high 10 rebounds and two blocks. Abby Barnes chipped in three points and eight rebounds off the bench.

Priest River (1-4) plays Clark Fork on Dec. 14, while Sandpoint (2-5) faces Lake City on Dec. 15.

Sandpoint 8 12 15 16 — 51

Priest River 7 7 6 9 — 29

SANDPOINT — Driggs 9, Morgan 11, Edwards 6, Larson 8, Petit 4, Banks 5, Lish 4, Phillips 0, Steiger 4, Anderson 0.

PRIEST RIVER — Fitsmorris 4, Martin 8, Minish 0, Fink 8, Barnes 3, Kren 0, Rusho 0, Pound 0, Palfrey 2.