There are only a few things in this world that are guaranteed, death, taxes, and the Sandpoint girls’ basketball team going to the 4A Idaho state basketball tournament.

The Bulldogs made it to the big dance once again in 2022 after winning its eighth 4A District I-II championship in nine years.

However, once Sandpoint got down to Mountain View High School, it lost both of its games and didn’t place at the tournament.

The Bulldogs got routed by Preston to open things up 42-24.They bounced back and had a competitive game against Middleton where they lost 50-45.

The Bulldogs were still able to take home some hardware following the tournament, earning the sportsmanship award.

This award signified that Sandpoint had reached its goals, according to Sandpoint girls basketball coach Will Love.

“We asked the kids at the beginning of the year what they wanted to be known for and they said hard work and sportsmanship,” Love said. “It was nice that the kids got rewarded and recognized at state.”

Sandpoint had a bit of a slow start to its season, starting off 2-5 before winter break.

Following a win against Lewiston on Dec. 17, the Bulldogs went down to the Timber-Lion shootout hosted by Timberline and Borah High School where they won three games in a row to improve to 6-5.

“We really managed to improve throughout the season,” Love said. “That’s something we wanted to focus on; we didn’t want to have too many highs or lows. We wanted to be consistent.”

The Bulldogs played its best basketball at the end of the season, finishing the second half 6-3 before going down to the state tournament.

A lot of the early season struggles Sandpoint faced came from adjustments it made to its defense. It switched from a zone to a man-to-man defense.

In years past, the Bulldogs had run primarily a zone defense, but based off of personnel and who they had to face in league, Love made the switch to man.

“There were a lot of times throughout the season where the kids were learning how to play zone,” Love said. “By the end of the season we were playing tremendous defense even though we changed the way we used to do things from the previous seven years.”

That improvement showed up on the stat sheet as well; in Sandpoint’s first 11 games, it gave up 41 points per game. By the end of the year it had shaved off one point from its average, giving up 40 points per game, the seventh best in the 4A classification.

Sandpoint had three players capture all-league honors. Junior Daylee Driggs, sophomore Aliya Strock, and junior Kelsey Cessna.

Strock won the “newcomer of the year” award; she led Sandpoint in both of its district championship games against Lakeland.

“We were really seeing her grow throughout the season,” Love said. “She started to come on during the holiday tournament in Boise. I'd talk to the coaches after the game and they’d tell me that she’s going to be something else, and I agree.”

Driggs was Sandpoint’s leading scorer in 2022, but her defensive prowess is what gave her the all-league nod.

“She’ll go out and guard the opposing team's number one shooter,” Love said. “Her sister was an all-league player and league MVP and she’s continuing that tradition defensively.”

Cessna missed her sophomore season and got cleared right before the 2022 season began, making the most out of her opportunities..

“She had to work hard to get back into the groove,” Love said. “Once she did, she really began to step into a leadership role.”

For a team that has a tradition of winning and making it to the state tournament almost yearly, having three all-league players coming back is huge for the future of Sandpoint basketball.

“Knowing we’ll have all three of them back, as a coach, that makes me really excited,” Love said. “They have the experience of playing in high level games.”.