Priest River 63, Kootenai Classical 9

PRIEST RIVER — Freshman Haley Rice tallied 10 of her tied for team-high 16 points in the first quarter, senior Aleigha Jensen added a steady 16 points of her own, and the Lady Spartans led from start to finish in a non-league defeat of the Lady Kodiaks on Thursday night at Priest River High.

Rice, making her varsity debut, hit a three-pointer, dished out a team-high four assists and grabbed six steals while junior Haylee Jepson-Church recorded eight points, seven rebounds, two assists and a team-high eight steals. Sophomore Courtney Whitaker chipped in seven points, a team-high nine rebounds and five steals for Priest River, which led 45-2 at intermission after a 22-0 first quarter advantage.

Freshman Elia Smith contributed six points, six rebounds and six steals in her varsity debut. Fellow freshman Farrah Hollett had four points as did sophomore McKinley Burgess-Duquette in what was the season opener for both teams.

Kootenai Classical Academy, which scored seven of their nine points in the second half, is located in Post Falls and is playing a consortium of area varsity and junior varsity squads this season, such as Clark Fork, Kootenai, Mullan, etc.

In addition to her 16 points, Jensen registered five rebounds and four steals for Priest River (1-0), which will return to action post-Thanksgiving break for a 3A Central Idaho League matchup at home against Kellogg on Dec. 2.

Kootenai Classical 0 2 5 2 — 9

Priest River 22 23 14 4 — 63

PTS: PR — Rice 16, Jensen 16, Jepson-Church 8, Whitaker 7, Smith 6, Hollett 4, Burgess-Duquette 4, Cantrell 2.

REB: PR — Whitaker 9, Jepson-Church 7, Smith 6, Jensen 5, Hollett 4, Cantrell 3, Rice 2, Burgess-Duquette 1.

AST: PR — Rice 4, Jepson-Church 2, Whitaker 1, Burgess-Duquette 1, Jensen 1.

STL: PR — Jepson-Church 8, Smith 6, Rice 6, Whitaker 5, Jensen 4, Hollett 2, Burgess-Duquette 2, Cantrell 1.

BLK: PR — Whitaker 1.