Slow start costs Bulldogs in Classic opener

SANDPOINT — As Yankee great Yogi Berra would say, it was like deja vu all over again for the Bulldog girls, who once again were plagued by a slow start as they opened the Eagle Holiday Classic with a 54-39 loss to Lakeside on Tuesday at West Valley High School.

In a rare statistical anomaly, the Bulldogs (4-7) were outscored 23-5 in the first quarter for the second consecutive game, having done the same exact thing against East Valley, and once again it proved costly.

“You took the words right out of my mouth,” said coach Duane Ward when told it was like deja vu. “Same old story. We just got so far in the hole in that first quarter. We’re having trouble getting started.”

Trinity Golder scored 16 points, Grace Kirscher added 13 points and four rebounds and Taylor Ward six rebounds in the loss, as the Bulldogs outscored Lakeside (4-4) for the final three quarter, also just like against East Valley, which shows the Bulldogs could win the games with better starts.

“We’re not turning the ball over, we’re playing good defense, there’s some positives,” said Ward, who continues to lean on Golder and Kirscher for the offense. “ We just have to get that first quarter whipped. We get some good shots and we miss them, then it snowballs. We’ve got to get more scoring from our other players.”

Sandpoint plays Pullman today at 9 a.m. at West Valley High School.

Sandpoint 5 14 10 10 — 39

Lakeside 23 11 10 10 — 54

SANDPOINT — Mattila 0, Tomazich 0, Darling 6, Kaul 0, Ward 0, Laybourne 0, Golder 16, Hicks 4, Kirscher 13.

LAKESIDE — Mitchell 5, Thomas 0, Makikis 6, Smith 4, Swannack 7, Mahowald 15, O. Mikkelsen 0, L. Mikkelsen 2, Jensen 15.