Slow start costly as Cats fall to Panthers

CLARK FORK — The good news was that the Wampus Cats out-scored the Panthers 31-16 in the final three quarters in nonleague girls basketball action Thursday night in Clark Fork.

The bad news was that the Wampus Cats (4-2) were out-scored 17-1 in the first quarter, the decisive factor in a 33-32 loss.

Tessa Vogel notched a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds, and Dimi Kailang added another with 10 points and 10 boards, but a slow start proved too much to overcome for the Cats.

“We came out asleep and didn’t move real well, let them get a bunch of easy buckets,” said Cats head coach Dexter Vogel, who liked his team’s grit after that. “They had a perfect opportunity to give up, but they fought back. We came out in the second quarter and basically dominated them.”

Paige Kelley led the Panthers with 16 points.

Clark Fork hosts Wallace on Saturday.

Charter      17  6    4  6 — 33

Clark Fork  1  13  12  6 — 32

CHARTER — Goodson 3, Turkenberg 12, Urbanic 2, Pelley 16, Renaldi 0, Urbie 0, Windsor 0.

CLARK FORK — Palmer 3, Vogel 11, Kailang 10, Komanec 4, Thornton 4, McMahon 0, Van Buren 0.