by Marianne Gasaway
The Lions collected two more wins last week, pushing their record to 7-2.
CL 76, IF-A 49
The Clear Lake girls were solid on both ends of the court in a 76-49 North Central Conference victory at Iowa Falls-Alden (5-5) Friday night, Jan. 6.
“It was a great shooting night for us and a well balanced attack offensively. We do a good job of making an extra pass and finding the scoring threat,” said Head Coach Bart Smith.
But it wasn’t just the offense that helped the Lions to the win.
“Defensively we created a lot of hurried shots and quick decisions on their part which allowed us to get some live ball turnovers and easy scoring opportunities in transition,” added Smith. “We switched defenses at half time and got the single digit scoring for the opposing team we needed to extend our lead. It was a good conference road win right out of break.”
The Lions pulled away from their 40-30 halftime lead by outscoring the Cadets 22-6 in the third quarter.
Three Lions finished in double figures scoring. Senior Carsyn Holland led the way with 17 points, followed by Xada Johnson with 16 and Jordan Mayland with 11. Brooklyn Eden was right behind with nine-points. Reese Brownlee and Ayla Johnson had seven apiece. Addison Doughan came off the bench to score five points, while Madi Ott and Lydia Brattrud each scored two.
Ayla Johnson dominated the boards for the Lions with 10 rebounds.
Mayland and Holland had five steals apiece, accounting for half of the Lions’ 20 steals in the game.
CL 50, FC 49
The Lions got off to a great start, but sputtered down the stretch against Forest City Saturday afternoon. In the end, there was just enough in the tank to get across the finish line with a 50-49 victory.
“We had a great start offensively with early touches to Xada (Johnson) by the basket and that opened up open shots on the perimeter, which we did a good job of making,” said Coach Smith. “Reese (Brownlee) started really well from the perimeter making our first two threes of the day.”
The early lead began to slip away in the second half when the Lions, who were down two players in their usual lineup, began to slow down.
“Forest City is a good team that is scrappy and plays hard and they started to wear us down toward the end of the game, which allowed them to cut into our lead,” said Smith. “Being down two players limited us on what we could do defensively.”
Jordan Mayland connected on some key shots in the second half to keep the Lions in step with the Indians’ offensive run. The senior had one of her best outings with 12 points and five steals.
A big defensive rebound late in the game by Xada Johnson kept Forest City from taking the lead and building momentum. Johnson had 11 rebounds and a team-high 14-points in the game.
Brownlee finished with eight points, followed by Brooklyn Eden with six, and Carsyn Holland and Madi Ott with five apiece.
“I’m happy with the win, but we need to execute better late in the fourth quarter,” added Coach Smith.
The girls take to the road for their next three games. They travel to Story City to take on Roland-Story (6-4) tonight (Thursday, Jan. 12) and will be at Humboldt (5-3) on Friday, followed by Webster City on Tuesday, Jan. 17.
