G-H-V 57
Clear Lake 48
The Clear Lake Lion girls fell to Garner-Hayfield-Ventura on Thursday, Feb. 1 in a battle that was gritty and close until the end.
Madi Ott’s 16 points for the Lions helped elevate Clear Lake for three quarters of play, that was complimented by nine points from Taylor Schwenn and eight points from Ashleigh Amble.
Leading by two at halftime, the second half was up for grabs. The third quarter saw the Lions ahead by one, 40-39.
A huge push in the fourth saw the Cardinals outscore the Lions 18-8, in the biggest spread of the night as the Lions couldn’t find a way to defend the 13 point games from Gretta Gouge or Jenna Pringnitz. Isabella Schisel was also strong, collecting another 12 points for the Cardinals.
The Lions fell to 9-9 on the season with the loss.
Clear Lake 69
IF-A 40
The Lions were back in action Friday night against North Central Conference foe Iowa Falls-Alden.
In the first match-up between the two teams, the Lions came out on top 66-33, This game also saw the Lions on top 69-40.
Moving back into the win column, the Lions were able to overcome the loss the night before with a 16 point game by Madi Ott, once again. Alexis Theiss was involved with 12 points and Ayla Johnson chipped in nine.
The Lion defense recorded 14 steals with Theiss and Schwenn leading the way with three apiece. The team had 30 rebounds on the night with 17 from the defense and 13 on the offensive side of the ball.
The Lions shot 47.5 percent from the field and scored six three’s while hitting seven-of-15 free throws.
The win put the Lions at 10-9 on the season and keeps Clear Lake in third in the conference standings, two games ahead of Iowa Fall-Alden, while sitting behind Algona and Humboldt.
Clear Lake 53
Nevada 25
The Lions were back in action Monday night, hosting the Nevada Cubs in a game postponed almost one month ago.
The game kicked off with a strong offensive showing from the Lions on an Addie Doughan three.
Nevada trailed 7-3 but was able to bring the game to within one, but Clear Lake held the lead after time expired, 11-8.
Another Doughan three started the second quarter and a change in the defense proved to be successful as Clear Lake created turnovers and went on to score 15. The Lions only allowed two points to the Cubs.
“It was a good start, the first quarter was a little slow for us but Addie Doughan did a nice job making shots for us,” said Lion head coach Bart Smith. “The second quarter we did a little more half-court zone trapping defense. Ayla Johnson is really good on top on that. It was a nice second quarter for us.”
Leading at halftime, the Lions added 13 more points, while blanking Nevada in the third.
With a 39-10 lead headed into the final eight minutes, the Lions bench entered the game. They were able to score 14 points. Nevada did outscore Clear Lake with 15, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Lions.
“We need to look at being more aggressive in some spots offensively, especially the high post in the two-three zone and we are going to see that against Humboldt,” said coach Smith. “It’ll be a nice test for us going into Regionals on Saturday.”
The Clear Lake Lions improved to 11-9 on the season and was on the road Tuesday night in Humboldt. They will head into Regional play Saturday at home against Iowa Falls-Alden game time is 7 p.m.
“It’s good to see what they did against us on Friday and it’s something they could do again,” said coach Smith. “We are just going to be who we are. Looking at state stats we are fifth in 3A in steals and that’s where we have to be good and converting it at the other end is where we are having a hard time. If we do that we should be okay.”
