4A REGION 1 CHAMPIONSHIP: With season on the line, slow start dooms Lakeland
JASON DUCHOW PHOTOGRAPHY Landree Simon of Lakeland drives on Daylee Driggs (3) of Sandpoint on Friday at Les Rogers Court in Sandpoint in Game 2 of the 4A Region 1 girls basketball best-of-3 championship in Sandpoint.
JASON DUCHOW PHOTOGRAPHY Ziya Munyer (11) of Lakeland battles a Sandpoint player for the ball Friday night in Sandpoint.
SANDPOINT — The Lakeland Hawks couldn't recover from a slow start in Game 2 of its best-of-3 series vs. the Sandpoint Bulldogs for the 4A Region 1 championship on Friday night.
Lakeland fell behind 19-4 after the first quarter, and Sandpoint went on to earn the region's lone berth to state with a 51-29 win at Les Rogers Court.
Junior Aliya Strock scored nine of her game-high 13 points in the first half for Sandpoint (17-5), which won its fourth straight regional title.
“The kids were playing really well,” Sandpoint coach Will Love said. “We did shoot the ball particularly well, but we were able to give Lakeland some issues. The kids were focused and able to compete against a very good Lakeland team.”
Sophomore Landree Simon scored 11 points for Lakeland, which finished 11-10. Simon scored 26 points in Game 1 on Wednesday, a 57-54 Hawks' loss to the Bulldogs.
Sandpoint opens at state on Thursday at Timberline High in Boise. The Bulldogs went 0-2 at state last year.
"I'm really proud of the girls and what they've done since the summer and get in this position to head down to state," Love said. "Hopefully we can go down there and return with a trophy."
Sandpoint won its ninth regional title in the last 10 years. Lakeland last qualified for state in 2019.
Lakeland 4 8 5 12 — 29
Sandpoint 19 11 16 7 — 51
LAKELAND — L. Simon 11, K. Kiefer 7, Fitting 0, Munyer 6, Knowles 0, Gallus 0, Holte 0, K. Simon 1, L. Kiefer 3, Sterling 1.
SANDPOINT — K. Cessna 11, De. Driggs 5, Day. Driggs 7, Mire 0, David 0, P. Cessna 0, Laybourne 3, Richardson 2, Knowles 0, Strock 13, Banks 10.
