North Idaho Christian girls win MCL title

| February 12, 2019 12:16 AM

n LATE SATURDAY

PULLMAN, Wash. — It took all year for someone to do it, but North Idaho Christian School finally had the answer to shutting down previously unbeaten Pullman Christian.

The Royals held the host Eagles in check when it mattered most, winning the Mountain Christian League girls championship with a 32-24 victory in Saturday night’s league tournament title game.

“Sarah Hines, Riley Anderson and Savannah Seeley did an outstanding job on their guards,” NICS coach Jerry Bittner said. “Defense wins championships.”

Bittner also praised two girls on the opposite ends of his roster experience wise: Junior center Imelda Bresee was triple-teamed throughout the night, scoring only 5 points, but grabbed 18 rebounds, blocked 9 shots and had 9 steals.

All the attention on Bresee left other Royals open, and eighth-grader Rylee Overturf took advantage, hitting open shots to lead the team with 10 points.

Hines added 8 points for the Royals, who finished 22-5 in winning their first MCL since the 2015-16 season. NICS has won the league crown 8 of the past 14 years, Bittner said.

Faith Burg led Pullman Christian with 12 points.

North Idaho Christian 8 6 8 10 — 32

Pullman Christian 3 9 6 6 — 24

NICS — Monaghan 0, Choi 0, Hines 8, Overturf 10, Anderson 2, Bresee 5, Seeley 7, Ward 0, Williams 0.

PULLMAN CHRISTIAN — F. Berg 12, Annie Goetze 3, Shaffer 0, Abbi Goetze 4, G. Berg 5, Berglund 0, Combs 0, Yocum 0, Wilson 0.

Bonners Ferry 58, Kellogg 35

BONNERS FERRY — All-Intermountain League players Holly Ansley and Jerzie Pluid led the host Badgers to a convincing win over Kellogg on Monday night, qualifying Bonners Ferry for this week’s 3A state tournament.

Unlike last week, when Kellogg (10-12) beat the Badgers in the district tournament opener, Bonners Ferry did not have Ansley, Pluid, and other starters mired in early foul trouble on Monday, coach Travis Hinthorne said.

“This week we rebounded better, stayed out of foul trouble and kept our composure,” Hinthorne added.

Ansley led all scorers with 21 points; Pluid added 16 for Bonners Ferry; and teammate Baylee Blackmore tallied 12 points.

The Badgers (17-6) will face defending 3A champion Sugar-Salem (21-2) in the opening round of the state tournament at 12:15 p.m. PST Thursday at Skyview High School in Nampa. It is the second straight state tournament appearance for Bonners Ferry.

Kellogg was led by Hailey Cheney’s 13 points.

Kellogg 11 6 9 9 — 35

Bonners Ferry 14 18 12 14 — 58

KELLOGG — Bristow 0, Hill 0, Rauenhorst 4, VanHoose 0, Senteney 4, Sheppard 0, Allred 4, Figueroa 5, Brandt 3, Cheney 13, Wendt 0, Nearing 2.

BONNERS FERRY — Blackmore 12, Maas 0, Liermann 4, Jackson 0, Sa. Hill 3, Si. Hill 0, Pluid 16, Petesch 0, Ansley 21, Villelli 2, Pinkerton 0.