Sometimes teams play against each other, sometimes they play against the refs.  This was the case in the game held in Victor Friday night.  Clark Fork came out strong in the first half of the game and put 12  points on the board to Victor’s seven.  But in the second half of the game, the Cats couldn’t seem to find their rhythm and racked up over 20 fouls.  

In the third quarter the Pirates had pushed back and only trailed the Cats by two with the score 19 to 17.  By the fourth quarter two Clark Fork starters were out, and three more had four fouls each. Both teams had put over 10 points on the board.

Clark Fork Coach Erik Johnson put 8th grader Michael Spence into the game. Spence took the challenge and put up a critical basket with just a few minutes left on the clock.  

“I was pleased with the defense,” said Coach Johnson, “it’s the best defensive performance we’ve had so far this year.  We worked hard on it over winter break.  I was disappointed in our offense, but the boys had to deal with a lot of adversity.  But it’s a good test when you deal with adversity.”  

And dealt with it they did.  With less than a second on the clock, Aaron Kelly grabbed the ball and shot, and with a final swish of the basket, Cats won 34-31.

The Lady Cats side of the story was vastly different on Friday night. Clark Fork jumped to an early lead over the Lady Pirates with 17-3 at the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter, the Victor end of the court saw little action, as the Cats kept pumping baskets onto the score board, leading 32-10 at the half. In the third quarter, the Cats put up another 21 points to the Pirates 3, closing the game in the fourth quarter 58-20.

Box Scores:

Lady Clark Fork: Morgan Sharp 6, Mackenzie Mueller 7, Emma Duboise 10, Danielle Ewoniuk 13, Madison Mask 4, Hailey Kelly 2, Montanna Baughman 3, Celein Parkin 3, Marissa Koke 10 (Conf. 2-2)

Lady Pirates: Alyssa Hopper 4, Ashley Hopper 3, Madison Allred 8, Jamie Burrdett 1, Hailey Kay 4 (Conf. 1-2)

Boxscore:

Clark Fork:  Michael Perkins 14, Connor Voll 6, Aaron Kelly 12, Michael Spence 2 (Conf. 2-2)

Victor: Austin Lewis 1, Jared Haley 3, Riley Della Silva 9, Logan McKinley 3, Colt Neville 12, Jayce Allred 3 (Conf. 1-2)

“Sometimes you eat the bar, sometimes the bar eats you”, famously said by Sam Elliot to ‘the Dude’ Jeff Bridges, in the 1998 film “The Big Lebowski”.

This about sums up the Clark Fork games in Drummond on Saturday night.  Following a successful evening of play in Victor on Friday with wins by both the boys and girls, Drummond left both teams in the loser’s bracket.

The girls started out the evening with a good run in the first half of the game.  Trailing Drummond by 4 to 7 points.  But in the second half, the Trojans turned up the heat and pulled ahead.  Putting up 18 points in the third quarter to the Cats 11, and 9 points in the fourth quarter to the Cats 1. The Lady Trojans won 53-29.

If nothing else, the boys manage to keep the games exciting. The entire game was neck-in-neck as each team put up baskets, one right after the other. Within the first few minutes of the game, the Cats lead by 8 to Drummond’s 2. But, by the end of the first half, Drummond had the lead 19 to 14. The Cats rallied back and closed the gap, starting the fourth quarter with a 2 point deficit of 31-29. With 4:45 left in the quarter, the Trojans lead 35-30. Mike Perkins drew a foul, and made his free throw, tightening the score 35-31.  Cats made another basket, and Perkins drew another foul and free throw, making both baskets to tie up the score 35-35 

Trojans threw up another 3 points, taking the lead, 38-35. Nick Turnbull draws a foul, and puts the Cats a point closer, 38-36.  Both team put up a few more baskets, the seconds ticking away on the clock, the score 43-41. With 33.2 seconds left in the game, Aaron Kelly draws a foul, he makes both baskets, but one doesn’t count because his foot is over the line. The score 43-42.  

With 8.3 seconds left, Kelly drew another foul, making the basket and tied the score 43-43. But the Trojans got the ball, and Jonah Parke shot a three, pulling the team ahead for the win, 46-43. 

Box Scores:

Clark Fork:  Mike Perkins 10, Connor Voll 5, Aaron Kelly 15, Nick Turnbull 13 (Conf. 2-3)

Drummond: Mark Estes 7, Colby Manley 2, Jonah Parke 12, Cae Estes 17, Riley Allen 6, Leroy Davis  2 (Conf. 3-3)

Box scores:

Ladies Clark Fork: Kenzie Mueller 13, Emma Duboise 2, Madison Mask 7, Montanna Baughman 2, Celein Parkin 1, Marissa Koke 4 (Conf. 2-3)

Drummond: Morgan Radtke 10, Addison Schindler 3, Claire Fickler 2, Audrie Parke 17, Ahnna Goodrich 3, Sierra Bryant 4, Allie Parker 14 (Conf. 4-2)

St. Regis

St. Regis challenged Plains on Thursday in St. Regis. The boy’s game started out with a fairly even competition with the first quarter ending with Plains up by one basket at 14-12.  But in the second quarter, the Horsemen sprinted ahead putting 34 points on the board to the Tigers five.  In the third quarter, the teams both had 10 points, but this wasn’t enough to bring the Tigers up to Plains’ lead of 58-27.  In the fourth quarter, Plains roared past St. Regis with a final game score of 81-40.  Brock Cantrell-Field was the team high scorer with 17 points, followed by Eric Eslick with 11.

The Lady Tigers didn’t manage much better in the Thursday night match up against Plains. The Trotters took an early lead putting 11 points on the board in the first quarter to St. Regis’ three. By the half the score was 19-6. The Lady Tigers roared back in the third quarter putting an impressive 16 points on the board, closing the gap 29-22. But it wasn’t enough in the end, when the Horsemen made nine points to the Tiger’s seven, with a final score of 40-29. Madison Hill was the team high scorer with 21.

Box score:

St. Regis:  Noah Salem 2, JD Booker 1, Trevor Lowry 9, Brock Cantrell-Field 17, Eric Eslick 11. (Conf. 0-4)

Plains:  Ryan Ovitt 24, Aaren VonHeeder 4, Kye Weeks 6, Trent Brouillette 7, Alec Cole 18, Sam Rehbein 4, Cole Benson 9, Tyler Subatch 1, Alan Ihms 5 (Conf. 2-1)

Lady St. Regis: Courtney Cheesman 5, Madison Hill 21, Anna Sanford 3 (Conf. 1-3)

Plains: Kimberly Earhart 7, Jade LaDeaux 11, Carley VonHeeder 7, Lily Huenink 4, Rachel Juenink 2, Leah Thompson 2, Jessica Thompson (Conf. 3-0)

The St. Regis boys gave Two Eagle River an intense challenge in a Thursday night game in Pablo. Both teams put impressive numbers on the board as the teams went head to head throughout the entire game.

Two Eagle only had a one point lead at the end of the first quarter with a 17-16 score. By the end of the second quarter, they had pulled ahead with a 45-32 lead.  But the Tiger’s fought back in the third quarter, putting another 25 points up, to tighten the gap 67-57. Another stellar performance in the fourth quarter by the Tigers, but not enough to pull into the lead.  Final score, Two Eagle River wins 92-81.

Brock Cantrell-Field was high scorer with an impressive 39 points, followed by Eric Esslick with 22 and Trevor Lowery with 20.

The St. Regis girls put the Two Eagle River players to the test in Thursday’s game. The Lady Tiger’s took an early lead in the game, and maintained the lead throughout the evening.  At the end of the first quarter the score was 15-4.  In the second quarter, the Tiger’s put another 17 points on the board to Two Eagle’s 4, with a half-time score of 32-8.  In the third, an impressive 20 points were made by the Tiger’s shutting out Two Eagles who had 4. The final score 55-21.  Team high scorer was Madison Hill with 28 points.

Box Score:

Girls St. Regis: Courtney Cheesman 7, Madison Kelly 3, Emma Hill 3, Justice Pate 2, Madison Hill 28, Anna Sanford 12

Two Eagle River: Cassidi Wunderlich 6, Tyra Michel 9, Misty Mendoza 3, Shay Andrews 2, Kristan Hewankorn 1

Box Score:

Boys St. Regis: Trevor Lowery 20, Brock Cantrell-Field 39, Eric Esslick 22

Two Eagle River: Isiah Mathias 17, Julian Cut Finger 22, Darius McDougall 11, Donny Herman 14, Zach Mathias 16, Cory Cadeaux 4, Josiah Nickles 8