by Marianne Gasaway
There’s no place like home, but the road was pretty good to the Clear Lake girls last week. The Lions notched wins against Nevada, Roland-Story and Humboldt to improve to 10-2 overall and 6-0 in the North Central Conference.
CL 58, Nevada 24
“It was a good start to a long week,” said Coach Bart Smith about the Lions’ win at Nevada Tuesday, Jan. 10. “I loved our start for being in an unfamiliar place.”
The Lions asserted themselves from the start with a 2-5 first quarter lead. By halftime they had score 45-points, while keeping the Cubs (4-7) in single digits with nine.
“We executed well offensively and defended really well,” said Smith. “We shot really well from the three point line. We are hard to guard when we can make threes and share the ball the way we are.”
The Lions drained nine of 16 three-point attempts, led by Jordan Mayland. She sunk four of six shot attempts from behind the arc and finished with a team-high 14-points.
Brooklyn Eden made both three-pointers she attempted and had 11-points for the Lions. Xada Johnson scored 10 and pulled down seven rebounds. Ayla Johnson also had seven rebounds to go along with her seven-points. Reese Brownlee contributed eight points. Xada Johnson, Eden and Brownlee had four assists apiece.
Carsyn Holland and Alivia Paine each scored three points for the Lions. Madi Ott chipped in two.
CL 58, Roland-Story 31
The Lions used their size advantage to topple the Roland-Story Norsemen, 58-31, Thursday, Jan. 12.
“It was another unselfish night for us. We had the size advantage against Roland Story and our girls understood that and executed the game plan,” explained Coach Smith. “We gave up some open looks on the perimeter to get the ball inside. I was proud of our guards for that.”
The Lions’ inside game consisted mostly of sisters Xada and Ayla Johnson, who finished with 21 and 16-points respectively. Xada also had a team-high 10 rebounds, nine of them on defense.
“Xada and Ayla did a nice job catching and finishing through contact,” said Smith.
Reese Brownlee and Jordan Mayland scored seven and six points, while Madi Ott came off the bench to add four. Brooklyn Eden and Alivia Paine scored two points apiece.
The Lions had 12 steals in the game, paced by Mayland and Eden with three apiece.
“Our defense continues to be good and needs to continue to travel with us when we are on the road,” added Coach Smith.
The Lions held the Norsemen (6-6) to single digit scoring in all but one quarter.
CL 47, Humboldt 31
Sophomore Madi Ott came off the bench to score a team-high 10 points and sparked the Lions to a 47-31 victory at Humboldt (6-5, 5-2) Friday.
“This was a good win for us. Our girls should be really proud and happy after this long week,” said Coach Smith. “We were okay offensively; we had a balanced scoring attack with six girls scoring six or more points.”
Ayla Johnson picked up nine points on 67 percent shooting and led the team with eight rebounds. Reese Brownlee scored seven and Brooklyn Eden, Jordan Mayland and Xada Johnson finished with six-points apiece. Carsyn Holland also got into the scorebook with three points.
“Our defense was good again,” added Smith. “Getting two, single digit scoring quarters was important, but getting four was even better. That is the stat I am happy with more than anything.”
