SANDPOINT — Sandpoint girls basketball evened the score with Lakeland on Saturday.

The Bulldogs recovered from a rough opening quarter to down the Hawks 48-37 and split the regular season series between the two Inland Empire League foes.

The victory also puts Sandpoint in the driver's seat to grab the No. 1 seed to the 4A Region 1 tournament.

On Jan. 21, Lakeland handed SHS a 40-34 defeat in the Battle for the Paddle. Shooting was a glaring issue for the Bulldogs in that loss, but on Saturday it powered them past their rival. Sandpoint hit seven 3-pointers.

"The girls did a good job of moving the basketball and finding the open shooter," head coach Will Love said.

However, the win was by no means easy for the Bulldogs. The Hawks came out and threw the first punch, jumping out to a 18-9 lead in the first quarter.

"We were a little sluggish to start," Love said. "Lakeland came out and they did some things we weren't expecting, mainly they went to a man defense to start off with ... We had worked on playing against a zone [defense] throughout the week, so it took us a little while to kind of adjust to that."

But the Bulldogs took that punch from Lakeland straight to the chin and came right back at them. Junior Daylee Driggs hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to end the first quarter to spark a Sandpoint comeback.

"That kind of got us going," Love said.

The Bulldogs held Lakeland to just 19 points over the final three quarters.

"The girls really turned up the defense," Love said.

Driggs took over the game, scoring a career-high 23 points. She also guarded two of Lakeland's best players most of the game and put the clamps on both of them, Love said.

"Just watching Daylee work tonight was something else," he said.

Tru Tomco scored 12 points on four 3-pointers. Aliya Strock added 6 points.

"It was a real team effort," Love said.

It was also Senior Night for the Bulldogs. The team honored its three seniors — Tru Tomco, Destiny Lyons and Sofia Platte — prior to the pivotal league battle.

Love said he was glad the team could pull out a win for the seniors because this is a special group.

"They've been great leaders this season," he said. "They've made sure in the locker room that we're on the same page and going in the right direction."

The Bulldogs (9-7) head to Moscow at 7 p.m. Tuesday for the first of two games against the Bears this coming week to wrap up the regular season.

Sandpoint is currently 2-4 in league play. Lakeland finished the season with a 2-6 IEL record, and Moscow sits at 1-5. SHS needs just one win over the Bears to secure the top seed to regionals.

Lakeland 18 4 3 12 — 37

Sandpoint 12 11 11 14 — 48

LAKELAND — Terzulli 2, Sterling 3, L. Kiefer 7, Knowles 0, K. Simon 8, A. Kiefer 8, Munyer 6, L. Simon 3.

SANDPOINT — Cessna 3, De. Driggs 0, Da. Driggs 23, Tomco 12, Richardson 0, Owens 0, Strock 6, Lyons 2, Platte 2.