STATE GIRLS BASKETBALL: Kellogg, Sandpoint, Wallace fall

EAGLE — Senior Hailey Cheney, who has signed to play volleyball at NCAA Division II Northwest Nazarene in Nampa, had 19 points and 14 rebounds for seventh-seeded Kellogg, which fell to the second-seeded Snake River Panthers 59-45 in the opening round of the state 3A basketball tournament on Thursday at Eagle High.

It is Kellogg’s first trip to state since 2010, when the Wildcats finished runner-up to Priest River.

“I think sometimes as a team we haven’t been here before,” Kellogg coach Jana Nearing said. “I think they got some momentum out of the gate, then made some rookie mistakes and let off the gas a little bit. It took us a bit to recover from that.”

Kellogg (13-6) will face Fruitland (17-6) in a loser-out game today at 2 p.m. PST at Eagle High.

“We’ve got a new path,” Nearing said. “We’re going to take the path through consolation and not look back at tonight’s game. We’re going to use it as a springboard to move forward to find our new path.”

Cheney scored 16 of the Wildcats first 29 points on Thursday night. Grace Nearing finished with eight for Kellogg, which shot 14 of 35.

“She’s pretty legit kid,” Nearing said. “Her and Grace (Nearing, Kellogg’s point guard) really see each other well on the floor and have a great connection. She can kind of do it all.”

Fruitland lost to Teton 50-38 in their opening round game.

Reagan VanOrden scored 15 points for Snake River, which shot 25 of 69.

“Fruitland plays pretty aggressive defense,” Nearing said. “I think we’ve got an inside advantage that we’ll try to look at. We need to come out and be ready for solid defense and try to play our kind of basketball.”

Snake River (21-5), which lost to Timberlake in the 2020 title game, will face Teton (18-10) in the semifinals tonight.

Kellogg 13 12 8 12 — 45

Snake River 15 11 15 7 — 59

KELLOGG — Jerome 4, Coe 6, Nearing 8, H. Cheney 19, M. Cheney 3, Karst 0, VanHoose 5. Totals 14-35 15-22 45.

SNAKE RIVER — VanOrden 15, Howell 4, Steadman 0, Edlefsen 14, A. Gilbert 10, Baldwin 10, Dunn 4, Dance 0, Nash 0, Carlson 1, L. Gilbert 0, Watt 2. Totals 25-69 6-12 59.

Preston 42

Sandpoint 24

MERIDIAN — The sixth-seeded Bulldogs shot 9 of 31 from the field and committed 19 turnovers in a loss to the Indians in the first round of the state 4A tournament at Mountain View High.

“We thought we’d be ready for their zone because it’s similar to what Lakeland does,” Sandpoint coach Will Love said. “But with five seniors, and girls that played together as much as they probably have, that’s a good team. Credit to them, they got into us defensively.

Daylee Driggs scored 12 points, Kelsey Cessna eight points for the Bulldogs (12-10), which plays No. 7 Middleton (18-7) in a loser-out game tonight at 6 at Mountain View.

Preston (17-7) had three players with 10 points each, and shot 19 of 45 from the field.

Sandpoint 6 7 7 4 — 24

Preston 15 8 10 9 — 42

SANDPOINT — K. Cessna 8, De. Driggs 0, Da. Driggs 12, Reinink 0, P. Cessna 0, Tomco 0, Richardson 0, Owens 0, Strock 0, Lyons 0, Platte 4, Tuinstra 0. Totals 9-31 3-7 24.

PRESTON — C. Kunz 0, Roberts 0, Knapp 10, Ward 10, Swainstion 2, Anderson 2, Romney 0, Robertson 6, E. Kunz 2, Meek 10, Harris 0. Totals 19-45 0-6 42.

Butte County 51

Wallace 32

NAMPA — The seventh-seeded Miners, at state for the first time since 2008, fell to the second-seeded Pirates in a state 1A Division I opening round game at Columbia High.

Jaden House had 14 points and four rebounds for Wallace (16-5), which faces Notus (16-4) in a loser-out game today at 2 p.m. PST.

Kiya McAfee had 19 points and 11 rebounds for Butte County (22-0), which faces Prairie (19-4) in the semifinals tonight.

Wallace 15 1 4 12 — 32

Butte County 11 14 9 17 — 51

WALLACE — Specht 2, Lewis 0, House 14, Br. Phillips 9, Welch 0, Be. Phillips 0, Hendrick 3, Hemphill 2, Hunter 2, Taylor 0. Totals 10-33 8-18 32.

BUTTE COUNTY — Rogers 0, King 0, McAfee 19, Bird 8, Kniffin 4, Knight 16, Gamett 2, E. Hansen 2. Totals 19-65 10-19 51.