vs
| 12/16/22 - Home | 55-46 W |
| 12/17/21 - Neutral | 59-20 W |
| 02/02/21 - Home | 56-37 W |
| 12/18/20 - Neutral | 74-26 W |
| 12/12/19 - Away | 66-58 W |
| + 2 more games |
Priest River has gone 7-0 against Clark Fork recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Thursday. The Priest River Spartans will welcome the Clark Fork Wampus Cats at 7:00 p.m. Priest River is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 52.1 points per game this season.
While Priest River didn't have the best season last year (they finished 6-13), it's starting to look like those struggles are a thing of the past. They sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 55-53 victory over Timberlake on Tuesday. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest win the Spartans have posted against the Tigers since January 16, 2021.
Priest River's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Palmer Coleman led the charge by almost dropping a double-double on 11 points and nine rebounds. Another player making a difference was Brock Kreager, who posted ten points and three steals.
Priest River was working as a unit and finished the game with 18 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, Clark Fork was not able to break out of their rough patch on Tuesday as the team picked up their sixth straight loss dating back to last season. The contest between them and Wallace didn't end well, with Clark Fork falling 60-43. The Wampus Cats were down 55-25 at the end of the third quarter, which was just too much to recover from.
Priest River will need focus on slowing down Owen Howard, one of several Clark Fork players who made an impact when they last played. He dropped a double-double on 18 points and 13 boards. Howard is crushing it when it comes to boards: he's pulled down at least 11 every time he's taken the court this season. The team also got some help courtesy of Mateo Cruz, who had 13 points.
Clark Fork's defeat dropped their record down to 0-5. As for Priest River, their victory bumped their record up to 7-2.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Priest River has crashing the boards this season, having averaged 29 boards per game. However, it's not like Clark Fork struggles in that department as they've been averaging 28.5 rebounds. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Priest River beat Clark Fork 55-46 in their previous meeting back in December of 2022. Does Priest River have another victory up their sleeve, or will Clark Fork turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
