4A REGION 1 GIRLS BASKETBALL: Lakeland drops opener in OT

SANDPOINT — The Lakeland Hawks started strong, then hit some clutch shots late, but went scoreless in overtime and fell 48-39 to the Sandpoint Bulldogs in Game1 of a best-of-3 series for the 4A Region 1 title Wednesday night at Les Rogers Court.

Game 2 is Friday night at 6 at Sandpoint. If Lakeland wins, the deciding game would be played Saturday.

Junior Landree Simon scored 15 points, senior Lila Kiefer 12 for Lakeland (11-9). Freshman Macy Bretveld had nine rebounds.

Lakeland jumped out to a 12-4 lead after one quarter, and hit five 3-pointers en route to a 17-12 halftime lead.

Karlie Banks, who finished with 24 points, 10 rebounds and five blocked shots for Sandpoint (19-3), hit one of her four 3-pointers with 3:28 in the third quarter to give the Bulldogs a 25-22 lead.

Simon hit a 3 to tie the game at 27 after three, then hit another 3 with 37.9 seconds left in regulation to force overtime.

“Credit to Lakeland for how hard they played,” Sandpoint coach Will Love said. “Defensively, they do some things that make it tough for teams to get into their offense. We struggled in that first half with 12 turnovers. It’s something we addressed at halftime … we still had a few turnovers — some bad ones that allowed Lakeland to get back into it in the fourth — but when we took care of the ball, we were able to score in that second half. All the credit to our girls for working hard and believing we could win this game.”

Lakeland     12     5     10     12     0    —    39

Sandpoint     4     8     15     12     9    —    48

LAKELAND — Simon 15, L. Kiefer 12, Sterling 6, Bretveld 2, Holte 2, K. Kiefer 2.

SANDPOINT — Banks 24, D. Driggs 8, B. Mire 6, Tomco 6, Richardson 3, Knowles 0, Laybourne 0. 

    JASON DUCHOW PHOTOGRAPHY Lakeland freshman Macy Bretveld (25) goes up for a shot against Sandpoint on Thursday night in Sandpoint.