Clark Fork Lady Cats even mark at .500
A young team that keeps fighting and learning is a good thing.
That’s the case with the Clark Fork Lady Mountain Cats basketball team who lost big at home Friday night but bounced back to win a thriller on the road Saturday.
Following a 48-26 home loss to a talented, taller and more experienced Seeley-Swan team Friday, the Cats went to Lincoln and held off the Lady Lynx 34-31 Saturday night.
Against Lincoln, Clark Fork jumped out to an 8-2 first quarter lead behind what is becoming their trademark smothering defense and timely outside shooting.
Lincoln finally found the range in the second quarter and the two teams scored 12 each as the Cats went into the locker room with a 20-14 lead.
Freshman long distance shooter Darby Haskins helped keep the Mountain Cats in the game throughout the night. The 5-5 Haskins finished the game with 15 points to lead all scorers.
Lincoln came out hard in the second half and outscored Clark Fork 16-10 to square the game at 30-30 heading into the final eight minutes.
From there, defense and lack of offense took over for both teams. The Mountain Cats defense swarmed all over the Lynx, holding them to just one point, a lone free throw.
Meanwhile, the Cats had difficulty scoring also, but managed to toss in four points to earn the hard-fought win.
Senior Emmah Baughman scored six for the Cats and sophomore Cassie Green chipped in five. Alexis Cannon paced Lincoln with 12.
Friday night against Seeley-Swan, experience and height played a key role in the Lady Blackhawk’s convincing win. With superior rebounding and scoring the visitors raced to a 13-2 first quarter lead that Clark Fork would not be able to overcome.
By halftime Seeley held a 25-10 advantage and boosted that lead to 34-16 by the end of the third. Sophomore Terra Bertsch scored a game-high 10 points to lead a balanced Blackhawks attack, while freshman Isabella Pereira paced the Lady Cats with nine.
Cassie Green scored seven for Clark Fork while teammate Taylor Haskins added six.
The weekend split evened Clark Fork’s season record at 3-3, while Seeley improved to 5-1 with the win.
Next on the schedule for Clark Fork is a home game against Noxon Friday night, followed by a road trip to Victor the following evening.