Basketball players tune up for next season
<p>A player from Superior is swarmed by Thompson Falls defenders during the Clark Fork Classic on Saturday.</p>
THOMPSON FALLS- The first annual Clark Fork Valley Classic basketball tournament took place on Saturday at the Thompson Falls High School gym in front of a crowd of about 75 fans. High school teams from Florence, Thompson Falls, Kellogg and Superior squared off on the court during the inaugural competition.
The first game pitted Thompson Falls against Kellogg that ended up going into overtime. The home team won 50 to 48. Kellogg again came up short in the second game, losing to Florence 33 to 19.
In the third game, Superior took Thompson Falls the distance with the game tied 27 to 27 with only a few seconds remaining in regulation. With the final buzzer seconds away from sounding, Caleb Bates for Thompson Falls drove the ball hard into the paint and scored the winning layup with no time left on the clock.
Superior would bounce back from that last second defeat, beating Kellogg 55 to 32. Superior continued their winning streak defeating Florence 61 to 35. Thompson Falls would conclude the tournament with a victory over Florence with a score of 45 to 35.
The Bluehawks ended the tournament with a record of 3-0 while Superior won two games losing only one. Florence won their first game while dropping their second and third matches. Kellogg ended the day without a victory going 0-3.
Thompson Falls Head Basketball Coach and tournament organizer Chadd Laws said based on the success of this years tournament, plans to continue the event and possibly expand were already on his mind.
“I thought it went really well and we really appreciate all the people who came out to support it,” said Laws.
Laws was aided in organizing the event by a team of volunteers. Amy Laws and Katrina Nygaard ran the score clock. Beth Riffle, Jen Frields, Roseanne Lundberg and Danielle Wood helped out with tickets and concessions.
John and Jackie Beckman assisted with concessions while Elene Schoemaker contributed six-dozen cookies. Laws said he hopes to expand the tournament next year to include more teams from the area.
“We hope to get more teams next year,” said Laws. “We want to double the size and have it be a two-day tournament.”