by Marianne Gasaway
The Clear Lake girls continue to reign supreme in the North Central Conference with a perfect 10-0 record. The latest victims of the Lions’ dominance was Clarion-Goldfield-Dows and St. Edmond.
The Lions took on second place Algona (10-1) Tuesday night. A recap of that game will appear in next week’s Mirror-Reporter. Tonight (Thursday, Feb. 2) the Lions will be at Garner for a non-conference tilt. Friday they host Iowa Falls-Alden. Tuesday, Feb. 7, they will welcome Humboldt (7-3) to town for the final game of the regular season.
CL 69, C-G-D 38
The Cowgirls couldn’t shut down all of Clear Lake’s weapons in a 69-38 game played Tuesday, Jan. 24. Jordan Mayland, Ayla Johnson and Xada Johnson all scored in double figures for the Lions.
“We had another pretty good balanced scoring attack tonight,” said Lion Coach Bart Smith. “Jordan continues to be the consistent score for us from the perimeter.”
Mayland led the way with 22-points, including six three pointers. Sisters Ayla and Xada Johnson had 12 and 11-points respectively and Ayla pulled down 10 rebounds.
The game started out close, with Clear Lake holding just a three-point lead after the first eight-minutes of play. But the Lion defense tightened in the second quarter and held the Cowgirls to just four-points for a 32-17 halftime lead.
“Our decision making with the ball needs to get better,” said Coach Smith. “We are committing to many turnovers to start the game. That needs to improve here as we get closer to tournament time.”
The Lions cut down their turnovers as the game progressed and finished with 17, compared to 26 for C-G-D. The Cowgirls were able to steal the ball nine times in the game, while the Lions had 20 steals.
Annika Nelson came off the bench to score eight points for the Lions. Reese Brownlee had seven. Carsyn Holland and Alivia Paine each finished with three-points, Madi Ott two and Anna Feuerbach one-point.
CL 71, St. Ed’s 32
Coach Smith didn’t think his Lions were sharp to start the game, but Clear Lake rolled past winless Ed Edmond Friday, 71-32.
“I thought we tried to force some things that weren’t there and didn’t look to find the best scoring opportunity,” said Smith after the game. “A few tight foul calls affected how aggressive we could play defensively in the first half. I was happy with how we came out and made some adjustments in the second half and defended a lot better.”
After the Lions broke out to a 21-6 first quarter lead the Gaels began to claw their way back into contention with a better second period. At halftime the Lion lead was 37-16.
Jordan Mayland again led the team in scoring with 15. Xada Johnson finished with 13-points and Reese Brownlee had 12.
Ayla Johnson had nine points and was part of a trio of players who dominated the boards for the Lions. Madi Ott came in to lead all players with seven rebounds, followed by Johnson and Brooklyn Eden with six apiece. Eden also scored four points and had a team-high eight assists.
Also contributing from the bench was Annika Nelson with seven-points, Ott with three, Alivia Paine and Lydia Brattrud with three apiece and Carsyn Holland with one.
