PREP BASKETBALL: Lake City tops 4A champ Sandpoint again

• GIRLS

SANDPOINT — As Sandpoint played in a zone, Lake City High junior Sadie Zimmerman got into one of her own.

Zimmerman hit three 3-pointers for the Timberwolves, who beat the Bulldogs 54-37 in an Inland Empire League game at Les Rogers Court on Thursday.

“Sadie played really well tonight,” Lake City coach David Pratt said. “She was able to find some seams and hit some big shots. And all of them were really timely. We’ve got a couple of kids that draw attention and they lose sight of other kids like Sadie and KaLiah (Frazey), and that’s what happened tonight.”

Senior Sophia Zufelt hit four 3s and finished with 12 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds for Lake City (15-1, 4-0 IEL), which made 12 3s.

“We came out and looked like a team that hadn’t played in a week,” Pratt said. “But we got going, played well and hard.”

Karlie Banks had 12 points and four rebounds for Sandpoint (12-3, 3-1), which lost senior point guard Aliya Strock, last year's state 4A Player of the Year, to a season-ending knee injury in last week’s championship game against Pocatello in the East Idaho Holiday Shootout.

“I thought we had some moments where we played really well, particularly in that first quarter,” Sandpoint coach Will Love said. “Lake City is such a good team — such a veteran team — and they started to figure us out on the defensive end. Their press got us out of sync at the right time and we struggled in that second quarter. We knew it was going to be tough, but I’m pleased with the way our girls responded.”

Lake City hosts Coeur d'Alene in the Fight for the Fish spirit game next Friday.

Sandpoint hosts Lakeland tonight.

Lake City    12    16    18    8    —    54

Sandpoint    10    9    8    10    —    37

LAKE CITY — Zimmerman 15, Zufelt 12, Pickford 9, Waddington 6, Frazey 6, Murphey 3, Kolden 3, Hiltenbrand 0.

SANDPOINT — Banks 12, Tomco 11, B. Mire 9, Richardson 3, L. Driggs 2, D. Driggs 0, Laybourne 0, Knowles 0.

Orofino 41

St. Maries 37

ST. MARIES — The Lumberjacks led by one point with a minute to play, but turnovers on their last three possessions doomed the hosts in their Central Idaho League opener.

“We’re still in the learning stage, learning to play with a little bit of a lead at the end,” St. Maries coach Gary Krumheuer said. 

Senior Tayla Janssen scored all 11 of her points in the first quarter for St. Maries (2-7), hitting all three of her 3-point shots.

Jaelyn Miller scored 22 points for Orofino (2-5, 1-1), which led 20-13 midway through the second quarter before St. Maries rallied to take a 22-20 halftime lead.

Livia Johnson, who had 14 rebounds for Orofino, sank 3 of 4 free throws in the final minute to put the Maniacs ahead to stay.

St. Maries travels to Logos on Saturday.

Orofino     8    12    8    13    —    41

St. Maries     11    11    6    9    —    37

OROFINO — McCarthy 3, Tondevold 4, Olive 0, Province 1, Johnson 7, Curtis 4, Miller 22.

ST. MARIES — Elliott 7, Martin 3, Baird 0, R. Yearout 4, Sindt 7, Janssen 11, Sloper 5, Linnemeyer 0.

Lakeside JV 33

Mullan 11

MULLAN — Sophomore Fawn Abrahamson scored nine points for the Knights JV in a win over the Tigers at the Mullan Pavilion.

Junior Arianna Lowley scored eight points for Lakeside, which hosts Bonners Ferry on Saturday.

Sophomore Avah Blankenship scored six points for Mullan (1-8), which hosts the Timberlake ‘C’ team on Tuesday.

Lakeside JV    9    7    11    8    —    33

Mullan        0    4    5    2    —    11

LAKESIDE JV — Gorr 1, Lowley 7, Hodgson 2, Matt 4, Nomee 2, A. Hendrickx 4, Abrahamson 9, C. Hendrickx 0, Stensgar 4.

MULLAN — Crandall 0, Blankenship 6, Niemi 0, Bosson 2, Kostelich 0, Charvez 3, Elliott 0.

• BOYS 

St. Maries 50

Priest River 37

PRIEST RIVER — Further information was not available.

Lakeside JV 48

Mullan 37

MULLAN — Lorrell Mitchell and Jayden Pluff scored a game-high 13 points each for the Knights JV in a win over the Tigers at the Mullan Pavilion.

Senior Stephen Petit scored 12 points for Mullan (0-6), which travels to the Kellogg JV on Thursday.

“It was probably the best game we’ve played as far as a complete four quarters,” Mullan coach Paul Elston said. “In that third quarter, Lakeside just hit a few more shots than we did. I really liked what our kids did and we played our most complete game, even though we lost. Lakeside’s a really good program.”

Lakeside JV    9    11    17    11    —    48

Mullan        11    10    9    7    —    37

LAKESIDE JV — Brown 5, Pluff 13, Brown-Sonder 0, Nomee 4, Mitchell 13), Jones 8, Ironcloud 0, Aldrich 2, Mullens 2.

MULLAN — Petit 12, Rupp Connors 8, Appiah 10, Imes 0, L. Petit 7, Calvert 0, Knoll 0.

N.I. Christian 56

Kootenai Thunder 45

KOOTENAI — Colton Malinauskas scored 16 points, hitting four 3-pointers for the Royals in a Mountain Christian League win over the Kootenai Thunder at Kootenai Elementary.

Caden Smith had 14 points and 12 rebounds, Ethan Antone had 10 points and seven steals for North Idaho Christian (7-4, 4-3 MCL), which travels to The Oaks of Spokane tonight.

Gabe Beck scored 17 points for Kootenai Thunder (1-7, 1-6).

N.I. Christian    9    8    23    16    —    56

Koot. Thunder    8    12    12    11    —    45

NORTH IDAHO CHRISTIAN — Smith 14, Winde 5, Car. Malinauskas 12, Antone 10, Hill 0, Co. Malinauskas 16.

KOOTENAI THUNDER — R. Palmer 0, Beck 17 (Gabe), P. Beck 7, D. Day 8, D. Wilson 2, H. Peterson 6, D. Miles 2.

    JASON DUCHOW PHOTOGRAPHY Sophia Zufelt (4) of Lake City sinks a 3-pointer Thursday at Sandpoint.