CL girls smother competition

The Clear Lake girls dominated on offense and were stingy on defense in a pair of North Central Conference games played last week.  The Lions pounded Iowa Falls-Alden, 68-33, and raced past Clarion-Goldfield, 54-17 to improve to 4-2 overall and 3-1 in the NCC.

Saturday the Lions traveled to Waverly-Shell Rock for a non-conference match-up.  Results of that game will appear in next week’s Mirror-Reporter.

CL 68, IF-A 33

Emily Snelling had a shooter’s touch Tuesday, Dec. 16, against Iowa Falls-Alden.  The sophomore was 6/6 from three-point range on her way to a 20-point performance, leading the Lions to a 68-33 victory over the Cadets.

“We had a really good shooting night. I thought we shared the ball well and took good shots,” said Coach Bart Smith.  “I wasn’t happy with our defensive effort. I thought we relaxed too much and did a bad job on the defensive boards.  If we didn’t have a shooting night like we did it would have been a closer game.”  

The Lions had good scoring balance, with Kaye Faber and Katie Hewett scoring 17 and 13 points respectively.  Hewett also had five steals in the win.

Lindsey Loudenburg dished out six assists and chipped in seven points.  Erin O’Tool put in four and Kylie Bottjen had three points.  Bottjen had a team-high seven assists.  

Sidney Borrill scored just two points, but helped the team defensively with six rebounds, four steals and two blocked shots.  Mckenna Backhaus came off the bench to score two points.

The Lions started strong on the road and finished the first quarter on top, 17-6.  The two teams were even in the second quarter, but the Lions shut the Cadets down in the third period, outscoring them 21-2.  

CL 54, C-G 17

The Lion defense picked up where it left off Tuesday night and demolished Clarion-Goldfield Friday, Dec. 19.

“We were very good defensively all night.  We were causing them to rush their shots and decision making, which created turnovers and easier scoring opportunities for us,” said Coach Bart Smith.

It took the Lions a quarter to get its scoring machine warmed up.  After a 7-2 first quarter, Clear Lake score 24 in the second period while holding the Cowgirls two a mere two-points.  

Although the score was lopsided, Coach Smith noted it was the worst shooting night of the year for his team.   The Lions made only five of 20 three-point attempts and were 17/40 from two-point range for 37 percent shooting.

Still, they found different ways to score.  

Kaye Faber and Sidney Borrill each finished with 11 points.  Faber had a team-high four steals, while Borrill led the team with eight rebounds. Katie Hewett was next with six rebounds to go with her nine points.  Erin O’Tool and Jessica Faber came off the bench to score six apiece.  Lindsey Loudenburg added three points and Mckenna Backhaus had one point.

As the team gets ready for a holiday break, Coach Smith said their game needs to keep evolving.  

“We continue to have unforced turnovers and our decision making is not where it needs to be.  That’s something that the girls need to start being concerned with, or we won’t beat the good teams and it could possibly hurt us against a team we should beat,” he said.