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PRIEST RIVER — The Priest River Spartans girls basketball team split a pair of must-win games last week, ending their season with a 15-8 record.
The Spartans beat Kellogg 36-24 in the first must-win game Wednesday, Feb. 12 at Priest River.
The win put the Spartans in a play-in game for state, this time with New Plymouth at Grangeville Saturday, Feb. 15. New Plymouth (18-7) won that game 50-31.
Priest River led start to finish against Kellogg, starting with an 11-3 first quarter. It was their fourth defeat of Kellogg this season. The Spartans held Kellogg to single digit scoring in each of the four quarters.
Desi Humphry had a good defensive game, with five steals and two blocks. Hailee Jepson-Church had four steals.
Payton Yount led Spartan scoring with 14 points, with two 3-pointers. Lizzie McCracken also hit two 3-pointers in her seven points.
It was tougher going against the New Plymouth Pilgrims. Priest River fell behind 18-4 in the first quarter, then rallied to outscore the Pilgrims 11-5 in the second quarter and trailed by eight at the half.
New Plymouth had a big 13-5 third quarter to mount a big lead that the Spartans couldn’t overcome.
Humphrey scored 15 points in her last high school basketball game, the most in the game. She also had four steals. Mc-Cracken, another senior, had seven points. Yount, a senior had team high stats in her last high school basketball game, with eight rebounds and three blocks.
The Spartans won second in the Central Idaho League, with a 5-3 league record, behind Grangeville.
