NAMPA — It’s going to sting a little bit. 

But a fire has been lit under the Sandpoint girls basketball team.

Trailing by 21 points with 7:26 remaining, the second-seeded Bulldogs cut the deficit to nine points on a 3-pointer by Willow Betz with 1:26 remaining, but could get no closer, falling to the fourth-seeded Pocatello Thunder 62-49 in the state 5A championship game at the Ford Idaho Center on Saturday.

“To win a state championship, things have to go your way,” first-year Sandpoint coach Madi Schoening said. “And that might be a loose ball rolling your way, or a shot going down. Some of those things weren’t happening early, but the girls made a big push late in the game and I think it showed our resilience is real and the girls work hard to try to win a basketball game.”

“I don’t think we executed our game plan,” Sandpoint junior Jordyn Tomco said. “We knew Abby Lusk was a stud and she was going to get her points. Our plan was not to let the others get going, and everyone from Poky had a good game, and we didn’t execute our stuff.”

Lusk, the Pocatello senior who has signed with Gonzaga, had 23 points and 13 rebounds for the Thunder (19-7), who won their second straight title after beating Middleton in the title game last season.

Sandpoint finished 21-6.

Sandpoint junior Brecken Mire, who finished with 20 points, seven rebounds and three assists, guarded Lusk for a majority of the game.

“I wanted that matchup,” Mire said. “I played her two years ago as a freshman and fought hard and wanted that matchup again. She’s a phenomenal player and really lanky. I knew she had me in height, but it was fun to play against her again.”

Sandpoint, playing in the championship game for the sixth time, went on a 7-2 run late to pull within 58-49 on Betz’s 3-pointer.

“I think hitting 3s really helped us,” Tomco said. “It was right there, but we just couldn’t get it.”

Sandpoint, at state for the sixth time in seven seasons, winning the 2023 title. The Bulldogs went 0-2 at state last year.

“It’s a special group, young group,” Tomco said. “We’re full of juniors and sophomores. We’ll be back next year. This group is amazing and we’ll be back for sure.”

“We’ve grinded since Day 1 together,” Mire said. “We’ve been in the gym, pushed together and loved each other. I think we’ll lean on each other and come back stronger next year.”

Schoening, a 2016 graduate of Sandpoint High, was an assistant coach for four years before taking over for Will Love, who took over the boys program at Sandpoint this season. 

“It’s been an insane first year of head coaching,” said Schoening, who went on to play at Montana. “I was just telling the girls I’m so thankful that they get to be part of that memory for me. After that Idaho Falls trip, I knew it was a special group that was really competitive and wanted to get it done. They had what it took to get here and it showed throughout the tournament.”

Sandpoint junior Livia Driggs scored 10 of her 14 points in the first quarter.

“Driggs' first quarter was insane, and really what got us going,” Schoening said. “Brecken, she’s just been consistent the last few weeks and Jordyn coming out and catching fire was just what we needed from here.”

Sandpoint shot 14 of 50 from the field.

“We guard, and the girls know that,” said Pocatello coach Sunny Evans, in her seventh season. “We’ve gotten better and better and we were really good in this tournament. We felt like we needed to slow down No. 4 (Tomco) and No. 13 (Mire), and No. 13 went off a little bit. But we did a decent job on her too.”

Tomco, who is committed to Division III Alaska-Anchorage, scored 32 points in the Bulldogs' win over Blackfoot in the state semifinals on Friday.

“We just tried to not let her catch it if we could,” Evans said. “Besides watching them last night, we knew what she was capable of doing on film. We just didn’t want her to get comfortable early, and that could be disruptive to them, and it seemed to work early on, which was a big difference from last night.”

Lusk, who was named the 5A All-Idaho Player of the Year last season, had 26 points and 12 rebounds in Friday’s semifinal win over Lakeland.

“She’s clearly a Division I player,” Schoening said. “Those players, they know when it’s time to take the game over, and she did that tonight. Huge kudos to her. She’s going to be a great player at Gonzaga. We tried to get her to take some contested shots, but that Division I athleticism was going to come through at some point.”

Sandpoint won eight of its final 10 games.

“It was really a whirlwind of things being thrown at you day-to-day,” Schoening said. “I couldn’t have done it without my support system at home, (Sandpoint assistant coach) Joe (Fata) and (Schoening’s fiance) Bryce (Johnson) obviously, and my family. I feel like they feel all the same feelings I do and they were with me each step of the way.”

“She told us to know this feeling and let it be the chip on your shoulder to get you through next season,” Mire said. “A loss like that when we’re right in it, it’s a big fire.”

Pocatello    17    13    19    13    —    62

Sandpoint    14    9    8    18    —    49

POCATELLO — Lusk 23, Pool 7, Tatom 3, Hirschi 4, Rogers 7, Finlayson 0, Torngren 14, Shuler 4. Totals 23-55 13-19 62.

SANDPOINT — Butler 0, Laing 0, Laybourne 0, Tomco 10, L. Driggs 14, M. Driggs 0, Mire 20, Loutzenhiser 0, Betz 5. Totals 14-50 14-16 49.

    JASON DUCHOW PHOTOGRAPHY Sandpoint senior Mia Driggs hugs junior Jordyn Tomco after the state 5A girls basketball championship game at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa on Saturday. Sandpoint fell to Pocatello 62-49 to finish second in the tournament.