MULLAN — Clark Fork girls basketball suffered its first loss of the season Thursday night.

The Lady Cats (1-1) fell to Mullan 30-23 in the North Star League opener for both schools.

It was a tight battle throughout and in head coach Jordan Adams’ eyes it came down to one thing.

“I told my girls in the locker room, this game strictly game down to experience,” she said. “It wasn’t until the last little bit that they kind of pulled away and that was because of foul shots.”

Clark Fork trailed 18-12 at the half and both teams combined to score just 5 points in the third quarter.

Junior Katelyn Matteson led the team 9 points and eight rebounds. Sophomore Emily Myers tallied 8 points and six rebounds, and Paige Valliere, Eloise Shelton and Lily Reuter each scored 2 points.

Adams said her team needs to be more efficient on offense.

“We’re trying to get Matteson more shots just because she does have such a nice shot,” Adams said, “but we struggled a little bit offensively once or twice and it’s nothing major, it’s just this is only our second game. To play a league game in your second game is not normal. You usually try to have a few more games underneath your belt just so you have the kinks worked out.”

Despite the loss, Adams was proud of the Lady Cats’ effort.

“I’m always so impressed with how competitive my girls come out,” she said.

Clark Fork hosts Priest River at 5:30 p.m. tonight.

Clark Fork 7 5 2 9 — 23

Mullan 12 6 3 9 — 30

CLARK FORK — Matteson 9, Valliere 2, Myers 8, Shelton 2, Reuter 2, Yancey 0, Hoffman 0, Mace 0, Fournier 0.

MULLAN — Waters 3, Haig 0, Nelson 7, Blankenship 0, Stahle 0, Fallingwater 7, Charvez 0, Frazier 9, Dykes 4.