Even though the Priest River Spartans have not done well against the St. Maries Lumberjacks recently (they were 1-8 in their previous nine matchups), they didn't let the past get in their way on Thursday. Priest River came out on top against St. Maries by a score of 41-34. The win made it back-to-back wins for Priest River.
St. Maries lost despite a true team effort on the offense, the best among them being Danika Sloper, who scored seven points along with 11 rebounds and five assists. Sloper is trending in the right direction, as she's improved her point production for three games straight. Brenna Elliott was another key contributor, scoring 12 points.
Even though they lost, St. Maries smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 12 offensive rebounds. This was only their 11th loss (out of 14 games) when they hit their own glass that hard.
Priest River now has a winning record of 6-5. As for St. Maries, they have not been sharp recently as the team's lost 11 of their last 12 matchups, which put a noticeable dent in their 3-16 record this season.
Priest River will head out on the road to take on Grangeville at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday. Grangeville knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with flashy point totals in its past nine contests -- so hopefully Priest River likes a good challenge. As for St. Maries, they will be playing in front of their home fans against Orofino at 6:00 p.m. on Monday. The two teams have had a bumpy ride up to this point with four consecutive losses apiece.
