Clark Fork loses to Lakeland

| February 7, 2007 8:00 PM

RATHDRUM — Freshman Shaina Gustafson led all scorers with 20 points as Clark Fork nearly erased a 20 point deficit in the fourth quarter before falling 53-44 at the 1A Regionals Thursday night at Lakeland High School.

Bailey Hewitt added 12 points and seven assists, but a struggling first half proved too much to overcome. The Cats trimmed a 20-point fourth quarter lead to five with 1:40 to go, but simply ran out of gas.

"We gave them too many second opportunities under the basket," said coach Dexter Vogel, whose team outscored Kootenai 17-8 in the fourth quarter. "We played aggressive in the second half. All year, the girls never give up"

Hannah Nyrop led No. 1 seed Kootenai (17-2) with 17 points.

No. 4 Clark Fork (7-12) plays No. 2 Wallace, a 60-33 winner over No. 3 Lakeside, Friday night at 6 p.m. at Lakeland.

Clark Fork 8 5 14 17 — 44

Kootenai 15 14 16 8 — 53

CLARK FORK — Gustafson 20, Hewitt 12, Allen 8, Martin 4, Gannon 0, Hess 0, Macumber 0.

KOOTENAI — Nyrop 17, Willms 16, Scheffelmaier 10, Frank 6, Gimmeson 4.