The highly rated and conference-leading Clear Lake girls came to town last Tuesday and left with a 75-37 win over the Cowgirls. For as good of a season as these ladies are having, they still could not stay with a Lions team that has their vision set on an ultimate goal of going to Wells Fargo Arena. They were up by a 47-24 score at the break, then proceeded to put their foot on the gas in going up by 15 more after three quarters were in the books.
The team shot 40 percent from the field, 78.6 percent from the line and 50 percent from beyond the arc. They had 21 total rebounds (16 on defense), 11 total assists, 12 total steals and one blocked shot. Kendall Lienemann and Lexie Lane shared high honors for their team with eight points each, with one of Lexie’s from long range. Raven Kinnetz was close at seven counters with one as a trey. Morgan Middleton finished with five points, Emma Keller with three points and Alaina Friesleben with two points.
Lane was very active on the boards in hauling in 11 rebounds. Kinnetz finished with three and Middleton two, while Friesleben, Nicole Waters, Emma Conlon, Nikki Kapka and Keller all claimed one carom each. Kinnetz, Friesleben, Lane and Middleton dished the pumpkin for two assists each. Lienemann, Waters and Conlon were credited with one apiece. Kinnetz picked off four steals and Conlon three, while Lienemann, Friesleb, Lane, Middleton and Waters all added one each to their lines. Waters also had a blocked shot.
“Clear Lake had three players out with injuries at the beginning of the season, but they’ve hit their full stride after the holidays and are now firing on all cylinders,” stated head coach Liz Ennis. “They have such depth. They play heavy pressure full-court man to man defense, and we didn’t handle that well. They put extra pressure on Raven, our main ball handler. We made silly mistakes and panicked at times. The Lions couldn’t seem to miss any shots, hitting an impressive 69 percent from the field. A lot of that was due to their quickness and our not getting into defensive positions quick enough to contest shots. These kind of games have to teach you something as a coach. We knew we had to sharpen up our defense, so we went to work next two days in practice and tweaked some things on that end of the floor. These girls are buying into what we’re doing now, and they are playing better defense as we move on from that loss. I thought bright spots in this game were Lexi’s rebounding and Raven’s steals. I felt the girls stayed positive throughout the entire game. They could have easily started getting negative and blaming each other for mistakes, but we never had that. This group works together and lifts each other up. It’s refreshing to see, even in a bad loss.”
They played at Iowa Falls-Alden on Friday and got right back on the beam in coming home with a 57-34 win over the Cadets. The Cowgirls took control early in building a 32-16 halftime lead then kept the pedal down through the third period. They finished at 50 percent from the field, 58.3 percent at the line and 42.9 percent from three-point land. They had 30 total rebounds (23 on defense), 17 total assists, 14 total steals and one blocked shot.
Lane finished with 16 points including a trio of treys. Kinnetz scored 10 points with one trey, Lienemann nine points with a trey and both Friesleben and Middleton seven points each. Conlon added five and Waters a three-pointer to the total. Middleton hauled in 10 boards, eight of them on defense. Lienemann made six rebounds, Friesleben and Lane four apiece and Kinnetz and Conlon two each. Kaylie Dow and Delia Swanson made one rebound each.
Lienemann handed out five assists, with Kinnetz and Middleton making four each. Friesleben and Lane were credited with two each. Kinnetz grabbed four steals, with Lane making three and both Lienemann and Middleton two each. Waters, Conlon and Nikki Kapka all finished with one each. Middleton also had a blocked shot.
“We knew the Cadets were going to shoot a lot of three’s so we adjusted our defense to pressure the outside shot better,” said Ennis. “I was so proud of the movement and talking on defense in this game. We really gave them fits and forced them to take a lot of quick shots that were out further from the arc. They finished just four of 26 from three-point range and five of 20 inside the arc. I always think good defense leads to strong offense. We got some great steals for easy baskets and also made some great passes and shared the ball. We also had some pretty balanced scoring, and even girls that didn’t score as much contributed in other ways. You could tell we were having fun and we needed that turn around after the loss. Alaina played with confidence and put up some good points, and Lexie is also gaining confidence in her shot. Morgan helped us out with rebounding and assists, and Kendall hit some big shots to go with her other stats. Raven had six deflects, and Nicole hit a big three-pointer and played great defense. Conlon and Keller had nice contributions on defense as well.”
They played a rescheduled home game on Saturday versus Humboldt, defeating the Wildcats 54-41. They again built a nice 25-17 halftime lead. They finished at 58.3 percent from the field, 52.9 percent from the charity line and 60 percent from long range. They had 36 total rebounds (28 on defense), 11 total assists, 14 total steals and three total blocked shots.
Middleton drained 16 points through the rims on a red-hot 7 of 8, while Kinnetz made 13 points with a trey and Conlon 11 points and also with a trey. Lane scored seven points including a three-pointer, Lienemann six points and Keller one point. Middleton had a double-double in grabbing 13 rebounds, 11 of them on the defensive end. Friesleben got her hands on five caroms, Lienemann and Conlon four each and Lane and Waters three apiece. Kinnetz and Keller finished with two each.
Lane dished the ball for four assists, followed by Lienemann and Middleton at two each. Kinnetz, Colon and Keller all made one assist each in setting up a teammate. Kinnetz picked off six steals, with Lienemann and Middleton making three each. Lane and Conlon made one each. Middleton added two blocked shots to her line and Waters one.
“The girls were pumped up for this rivalry,” said Ennis. “We came out strong playing great defense and moving the ball well on offense and having fun together. Our team did an excellent job of talking on defense and identifying key shooters in order to put extra pressure on those players. I think this was our best overall game to date. We moved well and forced them into quick shots, much like we did the night before. We outrebounded them by 14 as Morgan dominated the boards. Raven had seven deflections, and Emma Conlon came in with confidence in her shot. Lexie and Kendall gave us steady offensive help, and Emma Keller did a nice job on post defense and got to the line on offense. Alaina struggled with her shot, but gave us some big defensive rebounds. Nicole played great defense, swatting away an attempted three-point shot at a key moment of the fourth quarter. It was a total team win, and even those on the bench that didn’t get in were focused and gave the rest positive energy and this year more than ever that is important because we don’t have a gym full of fans. Our bench has been loud and gets excited, and it keeps us in games as a result.”
