St. Ed’s gets revenge

St. Ed’s got revenge for their only loss of the season, beating the Clear Lake girls (14-2, 13-1) Friday night in Fort Dodge.  The win puts the two teams on even standing atop the North Central Conference with four NCC games left to play.  

CL 72, C-G 29

The Lions warmed up for their rematch with St. Ed’s with a home contest against Clarion-Goldfield Tuesday, Jan. 28.  The Cowgirls were outmatched, 72-29.

Clear Lake raced out to a 29-1 lead by the end of the first quarter and were ahead 51-7 at the break.  Coach Bart Smith was able to empty his bench and a dozen players got into the scorebook.

“That is the focus and energy we need to play with for every game,” said Coach Smith.  “Offensively, we got in a rhythm because our defense was so good.  Those two go hand in hand.  When we are good defensively our offense benefits from that.  Trudy got it going for us offensively in the first.  That was an impressive start out of her.  She was a determined scorer to start the game.”

Peterson and Logan Anderson each had 17 points to lead the number two team in Class 3A.  Peterson also pulled down six rebounds and made four assists and two steals in the game.  Anderson had three assists and four steals.

Bailey Kibsgaard continued to lead the Lion defense with seven rebounds, while also putting in nine points.  She complimented her performance with two assists, two steals and a blocked shot.  Lindsey Loudenburg also scored nine, with five assists and two steals.  

Kaye Faber finished with seven points, Madi Faber five, and Sidney Borrill put in four points.  Emily Phalen and Katie Hewett each had a basket.

ST. ED’S 58, CL 53

It was a tale of two halves for the Lions on the road at St. Ed’s Friday night.  Clear Lake was outscored in the first half, then returned the favor in the second half, but went down 58-53.  The loss put the two teams in a tie for the North Central Conference title with one loss apiece in the NCC.  The Lions beat the Gaels, 66-56, in their first meeting Jan. 9.

Clear Lake entered the game ranked second in Class 3A; St. Ed’s was rated fifth in 1A.

“We got beat on the road by a good team tonight,” said Coach Bart Smith.  “Our girls never quit and we had our chances, just ran out of time.”

The coach praised the play of senior Madison Faber, who he said had her best night defensively.  Faber came away with three steals in the game to go along with her five points and two rebounds.

Logan Anderson was the top Lion scorer with 16. She connected on three of four attempts from beyond the arc and was also 3/4 at the free throw line.  She had a team-high four steals.

Bailey Kibsgaard and Lindsey Loudenburg finished with 14 and 11 points respectively.  Kibsgaard was the leader on the boards with nine rebounds.  Trudy Peterson put in seven points for the Lions.

“We have to get mentally tougher and more discipline offensively when we face a good man-to-man team,” added Coach Smith.  “Trudy and Logan needed to take more shots than they did and sometimes we forced some things when we had open scorers.”

Noting his team just finished a week with two practices and five games,  Coach Smith said he is looking forward to a less hectic week ahead.

“It will be nice to get back in the gym and work on these things.  We still can get a conference title if we win out, so this loss will give us a little more added focus to finish right.”

St. Ed’s (17-1, 16-1) will finish its conference schedule with games against Webster City and Iowa Falls-Alden this week.