Priest River finds new identity
(Photo by DYLAN GREENE) Junior Hannah Palfrey dribbles the ball as she looks for an open teammate during the game at Newport on Friday.
The Priest River girls basketball team faced the daunting task of playing not one, not two, but three games in three days this past week.
The grueling schedule started off on a high note as the Spartans topped Clark Fork 41-33 on Thursday to complete a season sweep of the Lady Cats and pickup their second win of the season.
Senior Karah Fink continued her impressive season, scoring 25 points to propel the Spartans to a victory. And she did it while not starting the game due to sickness.
Priest River traveled across the border to face Newport on Friday and one thing different about playing basketball in Washington is they utilize a 30 second shot clock, and the Spartans unfamiliarity with a shot clock showed.
Priest River head coach Gary Stewart said his team is used to working to find the best shot on every possession and the shot clock forced them to take bad shots they typically wouldn’t take.
“Newport is used to playing with that, we’re not,” Stewart said.
The Grizzlies outscored the Spartans 33-5 in the first half.
“Newport came out on fire,” Stewart said. “We got frustrated and down on ourselves and lost some energy in the first half.”
The Spartans trailed by as many as 31 points in the game, but in the fourth quarter Priest River utilized a full-court press, allowing the team to force seven turnovers in the final eight minutes and outscore Newport 14-2. But it was too little, too late.
“I told the girls after the game that’s probably our identity now,” Stewart said. “We can’t score in regular half court offense we’re going to have to generate some points by getting more possessions and getting after it full court.”
Fink led the Spartans with 14 points and 10 rebounds while senior Maddy Rusho tallied 7 points including hitting two 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.
Priest River returned home Saturday for the last leg of the three-game stretch to face Wallace, a team they lost to 41-29 in their season opener.
Unfortunately, standout performances from Rusho and junior Hannah Palfrey weren’t enough for the Spartans to overcome the Miners as they fell 49-36.
“Utter exhaustion,” Stewart wrote in an email. “Four games in five days not a recipe for performing your best. Understandably we had zero energy to finish the game.”
Rusho scored 14 points including three 3-pointers and Palfrey notched 13. Stewart said both these players have spent extra time after practice working on their shots and its paying off.
The Spartans (2-6) will use the long Christmas break to recover and get ready for the rest of the season which resumes Tuesday, Jan. 7 at Genesis Prep.