Wampus Cats fall to league rival Lakeside

Clark Fork girls basketball led at halftime, but couldn’t quite hold on with a thinner bench in a 56-46 loss to Lakeside on Jan. 4.

“The girls did a great job executing on offense and playing defense,” Clark Fork head coach Jordan Adams wrote in an email. “But we look forward to seeing [Lakeside] again. It’s always a great game.”

Despite leading by six at intermission, Lakeside responded by outscoring the Wampus Cats 19-3 to start the second half. An Ellie Kiebert field goal saved the Wampus Cats from being shut out in the quarter.

“After halftime it showed that we’ve been dealing with sickness and that we haven’t played as many games as Lakeside,” Adams wrote. “We still fought and had a few good runs, but didn’t quite take the lead back at the end.”

Ellie Kiebert filled the stat sheet by scoring a team-high 19 points, grabbing eight rebounds and notching five steals.

Kiebert’s teammate Brooke Stevens led the Wampus Cats on defense with seven steals to go along with her 15 points. Lily Simko also led Clark Fork with nine rebounds.

Reigning All-North Star League first-team slection Tommia Pakootas led all scorers with 26 points. Aside from two free throws in the third quarter, Pakootas earned all of her points by making eight three-pointers. Alyssa SiJohn added 12 points and Samatha Adrian chipped in seven points for the Knights.

With the loss, the Wampus Cats dropped to 0-1 in North Star League play. Lakeside moves to 1-0, joining Wallace (2-3, 1-0 NSL) atop the league standings. Although the league season is young, Clark Fork is one of three teams searching for its first win in league action.

Both teams will face off again at Lakeside on Jan. 22.

In the meantime, Clark Fork (3-5) will look to turn things around against Kootenai (2-7, 0-1 NSL) The Warriors are on a two-game losing skid, and are coming off of a 42-10 drubbing at the hands of fellow NSL member Wallace. Clark Fork won both meetings against Kootenai by an average of 17 points last season.

Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 10.

Lakeside 15 12 19 10 — 56

Clark Fork 15 18 3 10 — 46

LAKESIDE — Twoteeth 4, S. Pakootas 0, SiJohn 12, Olson 2, Adrian 7, T. Pakootas 26, Hendrick 5.

CLARK FORK — Stevens 15, Lambert 6, Hathaway 2, Kiebert 19, A. Sutton 0, Simko 4, T. Sutton 0.