Lady Cats battle back, fall short to Trojans
Katelyn Matteson drives down the lane during Friday's game.
(Photo by DYLAN GREENE)
PRIEST RIVER — After trailing by 13 points at halftime, Clark Fork girls basketball mounted a comeback against the Post Falls C team on Saturday.
With about 30 seconds left in the game, the Lady Cats trailed 43-36. Then Clark Fork got a steal and sophomore Emily Myers came down the court and drilled a 3-pointer with 16 seconds left to narrow the deficit to just 4 points.
On the ensuing inbounds play, Post Falls turned the ball over. The Lady Cats capitalized on the mistake when freshman Eloise Shelton banked in a jumper to make it 43-41 with 3.4 seconds left.
Unfortunately, Clark Fork was unable to get a steal in the closing moments and Post Falls closed out a 43-41 victory over the Lady Cats in a consolation game at the Spartan Christmas Tournament.
These two teams met on Wednesday in Post Falls and Clark Fork won 33-16.
Clark Fork trailed 15-3 after the first quarter in Saturday's game. Slow starts have mired the Lady Cats all season, but they didn't give up and nearly completed a dramatic comeback victory.
"It was awesome," assistant coach Matt Majors said. "We were down a pretty good amount at halftime and then the girls kind of took a positive mindset and started chipping away and chipping away, and before we knew it we were right back in the game and one possession away from tying it up. We weren't able to do it, but I was proud they were able to come back."
Sophomore point guard Paige Valliere wasn't in the lineup for the Lady Cats, but Majors said the younger girls stepped up and didn't miss a beat.
"Some of the experienced girls were doing a really good job of kind of being coaches on the court and helping out some of the girls who aren't as experienced," Majors said.
Sophomore Katelyn Matteson helped lead the comeback attempt for Clark Fork, scoring 23 points.
"She was just on fire in that second half," Majors said about Matteson. "When things are flowing for her, it's hard to stop her."
Shelton finished with 7 points, freshman Lily Reuter tallied 6 and Myers added 5.
Clark Fork (2-5) returns to action Tuesday, Jan. 5, to face Mullan at home.
Clark Fork 3 10 9 19 — 41
Post Falls C 15 11 4 13 — 43
CLARK FORK — Matteson 23, Myers 5, Shelton 7, Reuter 6, Yancey 0, Hoffman 0, Mace 0, Fournier 0.
POST FALLS C — Daniels 0, Fortune 4, Bastedo 0, Beck 18, Gretchins 0, Phares 0, Dunlap 0, Covjin 0, Taylor 0, Miller 9, Lozier 12.