by JASON ELLIOTT
SANDPOINT – Sandpoint coach Will Love has made a point of pointing out exactly where the Ford Idaho Center is located during the school’s last 10 trips south.
A little later today, he can see it up close and personal.
Junior guard Aliya Strock scored 20 points for the Bulldogs in a 54-49 win over the Minico Spartans in the state 4A opener at Timberline High.
(Photo courtesy JASON DUCHOW PHOTOGRAPHY)
Strock’s steal sealed the win for the Bulldogs, who went 0-2 at state in 2021.
“I think we just played well as a team and played defense together,” Strock said. “Playing that close of a game, it was nice. We played as hard as we could. I’m excited for the semifinals because it’s been a while since we’ve been to the semifinals.”
“She’s been playing really, really well the entire season,” said Love, in his fifth season. “With her teammates, it allows her the opportunity to make great plays. On the offensive end, they do a good job of getting her the ball and on the defensive end, they play good defense, so she can freelance a little bit. With Daylee (Driggs) out there, it allows us to put Aliya on a secondary player. She can come up with some steals.”
Sandpoint (18-5), in the semifinals for the first time since 2016, faces Columbia (15-10) of Nampa today at 4 p.m. PST at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa.
“This team wants to compete for a state title,” Love said. “Columbia is going to give us a challenge and played really well today. They do a great job and have some great players. But we’ve got some good players, too. If we can execute, we can battle with them. I’m just looking forward to giving the girls the opportunity to play in the Idaho Center. Hopefully, we can play there twice. Every year, we drive by there and point to it and say that’s where we want to play. And they’re going to get that opportunity.”
Junior CJ Latta, who is garnering Division I interest, finished with 34 points for Minico, which is at state for the first time since 2019.
Sandpoint led 27-14 at the half but had Minico get within a 46-45 deficit with 3:56 remaining. Sandpoint’s Karlie Banks made the second of her free throws with 26.9 seconds remaining and Strock forced a steal at midcourt as Minico drove for the tying basket.
“Except for a stretch where we lost track of some things, we played really well,” Love said. “You played a complete game outside of giving up 34 points to a really good player. And then, from the free-throw line, we really struggled. If we can clean that up, I like how this team is.”
Banks finished with 14 points, Kelsey Cessna 11 points for Sandpoint, which finished 17 of 34 from the free-throw line.
“One thing I tried to stress to the girls is this is the fun part,” Love said. “If we were just beating teams by 30 or 40, you get a little bit of joy, but you don’t get that competitiveness. Don’t get me wrong, I hate those games. But this is why they’re on a stage like this to perform. I wish we would have hit some free throws in the last five minutes, but they stepped up when they needed to late in that last minute or two.”
Stats
Minico 6 8 17 12 – 49
Sandpoint 15 12 15 12 – 54
MINICO – Gonzales 3, Salinas 0, Neilson 7, Stroud 0, Page 2, Bott 5, Latta 34, May 0, Vargas 0. Totals 16-40 11-13 49.
SANDPOINT – K. Cessna 11, De. Driggs 2, Da. Driggs 6, P. Cessna 0, Laybourne 0, Richardson 2, Bleckwenn 0, Strock 20, Banks 14. Totals 17-53 17-34 54.
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It was a great day to be a Bulldog fan yesterday.
Sandpoint High Girls Varsity Bulldogs won.💖
Gonzaga Bulldogs Women's Basketball won.💖
Gonzaga Bulldogs Men's Basketball won. WHAT A GAME that was!!💖
Bill and I sat in rocking chairs yesterday, watching the Sandpoint Bulldogs State Tournament on my laptop, which was sitting on top of Bridie's crate.
A television screen would have been nice. We also had to reboot the game a few times when the high school sports feed froze during commercials.
Nonetheless, it was fun both watching and listening to the sports commentator.
For three quarters it looked like Sandpoint was going to cruise to an impressive victory.
Minico's junior standout CJ Latta had a different idea. In the last quarter her efforts erased all but one point of the Bulldogs 17-point halftime lead.
Fortunately, the Bulldog girls kept their cool and made enough baskets to seal the win.
Bill and I were thrilled when, after the game, the announcer said that Coach Love had sent greetings to the Sandpoint fans and his family.
Nice touch to a nice win, as was the photo above where Willie's coaching mentor and close friend, retired Coach Duane Ward, helped with the coaching staff.
Bill and I will probably be set up at the doggie crate again late this afternoon at 4 p.m. our time when the girls play Columbia in the Ford Idaho Center.
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This whole State Tournament gig in Southern Idaho is pretty nostalgic and a homecoming for both Willie and Debbie. Debbie grew up in Boise. In addition, Willie, Debbie and Annie all graduated from Boise State University.
A few years later, after his graduation, Willie took up sports reporting, eventually landing a job at the Idaho Press Tribune in Nampa where today's game will be played.
He worked his way to assistant sports editor, often meeting deadlines well into the night while covering high school sports in the Treasure Valley.
In addition to pointing out the Ford Idaho Center to his teams (as mentioned in the story above), Willie has heard about the facility from his Aunties Barbara and Laurie who show horses there.
Now, Willie gets to have the experience as a coach and to keep adding to all those Southern Idaho sports memories.
All good stuff, and we are proud and happy.
GOOD LUCK, BULLDOGS!
💘💘💘💘💘
Happy Friday.
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