SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. — The Sandpoint girls basketball team held its opponent under 34 points for the third time this season to grab a 49-25 victory over Riverside (Wash.) on Thursday at the Eagle Classic.

The Bulldogs defense was all over the Rams holding them to just 11 points in the first half. Head coach Will Love has been looking for his team to get off to a fast start in the first quarter all season and Thursday they did, taking a 28-11 lead into halftime.

“Riverside’s a young team so we were able to jump on them early with our press,” Love said. “They didn’t have a whole lot of ball handlers so the press that we put on them gave them some difficulties. The kids did a good job when Riverside was able to get into their half court offense.”

In the first quarter, the Bulldogs were feeding junior Bella Phillips to get her going and she responded, scoring 8 points in the quarter.

Phillips finished with 10 points and senior Maddie Morgan also tallied 10. Junior Kaylee Banks added 7 points.

Due to their unfamiliarity with Riverside, Love said the Bulldogs treated it like a summer league game and made adjustments on the fly as they got a feel for their opponent.

Love said his team did a great job of getting steals and deflections and saw an improvement in their rebounding despite struggling at times against the Rams.

“Offensively, it looked like we had only two practices in a week,” Love said. “Our last practice was Monday.”

The Bulldogs (7-4) get a day off before they head back to West Valley High to face Pullman at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.

Love plans on attending Pullman’s game against Okanogan on Friday night to scout the Greyhounds.

“We’ve matched with Pullman in this tournament a few times and you got to be ready to play against them,” he said. “The Great Northern League is a tough league so a team might not have the best record but that’s sometimes because that league is pretty good.”

Sandpoint 15 13 17 4 — 49

Riverside 5 6 9 5 — 25

SANDPOINT — Cessna 2, Lish 0, Day. Driggs 4, Morgan 10, Daw. Driggs 6, Edwards 4, Steiger 0, Phillips 10, Larson 3, Platte 3, Banks 7.

RIVERSIDE — A. Riggles 4, Zollars 1, Roth 7, Lamb 0, Nortz 7, Ordaz 0, Teel 0, Waldron 2, S. Riggles 4, Koesel 0.