Players to Watch:

Lilly Reuter, Clark Fork
Hannah Thompson, Clark Fork
Tuesday Glessner, Kootenai
Leah Frazier, Mullan
Jazzmyn Nelson, Mullan

Written by: Christian Weaner

Coming off a season playing a JV schedule due to lack of numbers in the program, Sherry Leitz is now entering her twentieth year as the head girls basketball coach at Mullan High School, and she has high hopes for her Tigers squad as they prepare for varsity competition in the winnable 1AD2 North Star League (NSL).

The Tigers are the preseason favorites to win the league, thanks to the returning talent of Jazzmyn Nelson, Ellie Lowman, Leah Frazier, Caitlin Garitone and Autumn Charvez, who all played last season. Leitz said she is also hopeful for the impact that freshman Liberty Petit will make this year.

Nelson will run the offense from the point guard position for Mullan, and she should provide a scoring punch from the outside, along with Lowman. Frazier can score from the low post, and Garitone and Charvez are both lock-down defenders on the opposite side of the court.

If Mullan wants to return to the top of the league standings — where they finished back in 2020-21 — they will first have to go through defending NSL champion Clark Fork.

The Wampus Cats graduated last year's NSL Player of the Year Katelyn Matteson and All-League nominee Grace Yancey from the 2021-22 squad that went 4-11, but Clark Fork does return sophomore Hannah Thompson and junior Lilly Reuter, who both made All-League a season ago.

Kootenai rounds out the three-team NSL this season as they look to build upon last year's 1-10 finish. Doug Napierala's Warriors team showed a lot of grit last year, and they will have senior Tuesday Glessner back to lead the charge this season, as she looks to build upon her All-League performance in 2021-22.