Bulldog girls suffer crushing loss to Bengals

SANDPOINT — It was as close as you can come to winning without actually winning for Sandpoint in a wild and heartbreaking 60-57 ovetime loss to 5A Lewiston in nonleague girls basketball on Monday at Les Rogers Court.

With a tightly-contested fourth quarter winding down, the Bulldogs (9-9) appeared to have the game won when Katherine Kaul sunk a free throw to give her team a 50-47 lead with just three seconds left to play.

The Bengals (9-2) had other ideas, quickly inbounding the ball and firing a baseball pass to the top of the 3-point circle, where a desperation shot at the buzzer banked in to send the game into overtime, pushing the game into overtime. For the basketball initiated, the play was reminiscent of the famous Grant Hill to Christian Laettner play that helped that private school from Durham defeat Kentucky in the Elite Eight.

“That shot they got off, how many times does that go in?” asked Bulldogs’ head coach Duane Ward, whose had team just missed taking down a second 5A IEL foe this season.

“It took a perfect play,” said Bulldog assistant Will Love, “and they had it.”

Despite the loss, it was a strong effort from the Bulldogs, who were led by Madi Schoening with 23 points, eight rebounds and three steals, Grace Kirscher with 16 points, many coming at crucial times in the fourth quarter, to go with four rebounds, three assists and two steals, and Riley Couch with five assists and a pair of thefts in defeat.

Trailing by six in overtime, Madi Schoening made a three point play to cut the lead to three, and with seconds left found BreLynn Converse on the baseline for an open look at the buzzer. The potential game-tying shot looked good when it left Converse’s hand, but just grazed the backboard.

The game had a playoff intensity to it, and could pay dividends down the road. The Bulldogs’ defense held the Bengals to just two first quarter points, but the team still trailed at halftime.

“We just seemed a little out of synch,” said Ward of the first half. “I liked the way we played in the second half. I was happy with the effort.”

Sandpoint gets an 10 day break in the schedule before hosting Moscow on Jan. 29.

Lewiston 2 16 15 17 10 — 60

Sandpoint 9 7 16 18 7 — 57

SANDPOINT — Schoening 23, Converse 4, Darrah 2, Ward 1, Couch 6, Hicks 4, Kaul 1, Kirscher 16.

LEWISTON — Weeks 8, Randall 3, Ralstin 2, Bailey 6, Roy 22, Kinzer 4, Bugbee 2, Havens 8, Johnson 3, Santana 2.

n Bulldog boys fall short against Bengals

SANDPOINT — Featuring great size and athleticism, Lewiston used a 24-6 second quarter run to take down Sandpoint 59-23 in nonleague boys basketball on Martin Luther King Jr. Day at Les Rogers Court.

The Bulldogs (4-10) were coming off a tough road win over Moscow on Saturday night, and simply didn’t have the legs to hang with what could be a sleeper team in the 5A IEL ranks in Lewiston (8-6).

T.J. Davis and Taran McLaughlin each had a pair of blocks, and Davan Norris and Carlos Collado combined for 13 points, but the Bulldogs had a tough time generating any offense against a long Bengals’ defense.

Sandpoint is at Prist River on Friday.

Lewiston 10 24 16 9 — 59

Sandpoint 7 6 6 4 — 23

LEWISTON — Driskill 7, Phillips 3, Wilson 8, Way 16, Clarke 2, Baerlocher 9, Bradley 14.

SANDPOINT — Curtiss 4, Norris 7, Sundquist 2, Rockwell 2, Davis 2, Perry 0, Collado 6, McLaughlin 0.