STATE 4A GIRLS BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT: Threes all around

BOISE — You can call it the Sandpoint 3 (point) party.

Riley Couch hit two, then Grace Kirscher hit one.

Throw in a couple of free throws from Montana-bound Madi Schoening, it was more than enough for the Sandpoint Bulldogs to do what they traveled to southern Idaho to do.

Bring back a trophy in their final game of the season.

Madi Schoening had 20 points and nine rebounds, helping the Bulldogs rally past the Minico Spartans of Rupert 51-46 in the third-place game of the state 4A tournament on Saturday at Timberline High.

Sandpoint trailed 33-24 with a little over three minutes remaining in the third quarter.

“The kids hung in there,” Sandpoint coach Duane Ward said. “We knew that if we kept attacking, pressing and moving, they’d foul us. And we started attacking and it created a situation where we got some good shots or they got fouls. And they got into foul trouble and our kids hit some shots.”

Couch, a senior point guard, gave Sandpoint the lead for good with 5:56 remaining at 39-38. Kirscher hit a 3-pointer to make it 47-38, capping a 13-0 run.

“Riley, all season she’s had a knack for the moment and hitting critical shots at the biggest times,” Ward said. “She’s got a knack to turn things around, and she did that tonight.”

Couch, who has signed to play soccer at the Community Colleges of Spokane, finished with 10 points, four rebounds and four steals for Sandpoint.

“We knew that we had to get some big shots because we were down by so many points,” Couch said. “We were moving the ball around really well, and I saw an opening, and I took it. Last game (a 41-28 loss to Century of Pocatello in the semifinals), we weren’t hitting any shots, so it was good to get some today. We thought we could win this thing. It really meant a lot to us.”

Sophomore Grace Kirscher, who scored 27 points in the tournament opener for Sandpoint, finished with 16 points, five rebounds and four steals on Saturday.

Sandpoint (15-10), in its third straight trip to state, finished third for the second straight year.

“We’re happy with it,” Ward said. “We’re a little disappointed because we wanted to get to that championship game, and I think we had the team to do it, but had a bad shooting night. Two trips, two trophies, you can’t ask for anything more than that.”

Schoening iced the game with a pair of free throws with 23.9 seconds remaining.

“These are the things that memories are made from,” Ward said. “This was for the seniors and we’d played well all year long. We just told them to go out and have some fun and play basketball like the Bulldogs play.”

“It was a good way to leave Sandpoint High,” Schoening said. “Even though we didn’t get to take home the big trophy, we took something home, so I’m happy with my team and everything that happened. Riley comes up clutch for us all the time. It’s easy for her to get overlooked and in districts when she got hurt, we didn’t have a ballhandler, and you can notice that we needed her on the court. She’s a huge component to what we do. Her hitting those 3s, she’s the one that kept us going.”

Sandpoint bounced back again on Saturday, after losing in the semifinals for the second straight year.

“We didn’t come down here to lose two games,” Schoening said. “We didn’t come down here to lose any, but we knew in November this is where we wanted to be. We wanted to make a big impact here, and I think we did that.”

Jillian Gilchrist and Adrianna Peralez scored 14 points each for Minico, which finished 22-5.

Minico 10 13 13 10 — 46

Sandpoint 14 8 12 17 — 51

MINICO — Mac. Merrill 11, Mau. Merrill 0, J. Gilchrist 14, Curiel 0, Stutzman 1, S. Gilchrist 6, Sayer 0, Peralez 14. Totals 16-39 6-10 46.

SANDPOINT — Mattila 0, Schoening 20, Converse 0, Darrah 0, Ward 5, Couch 10, Hicks 0, Kaul 0, Kirscher 16. Totals 16-49 14-21 51.