No competition for Clear Lake girls

by Michelle Watson

It had to be a nervous bus ride for the St. Edmond girls when they headed to Clear Lake on Friday, Dec. 20.  The 0-6 Gaels faced the 7-0 Lions, who have been putting together a pretty impressive resume of wins. Clear Lake made St. Edmond another victim in a 77-18 romp.

St. Edmond knew they had their work cut out for them right away, as Clear Lake opened the game with a 22-6 first quarter start.

The second quarter wasn’t much better for the Gaels.  Clear Lake scored 53 points in the first half, while the Lion defense held St. Eds to just 11 first half points.

“I was happy with how we started the game,” said Coach Bart Smith.  “We had good defensive intensity and we were looking for our shots offensively.”

Clear Lake cleared the bench in the second half, giving everyone ownership of the win.  The Lions scored 11 points in the third quarter for a 64-13 lead.  Clear Lake outscored the Gaels 13-5 in the fourth quarter for the 77-18 win.

“It was good to go into the break with a win,” said Smith.  “I was pleased to see us do a better job of finding girls in transition.  We had some really good transition baskets because we were looking up and advancing the ball.”

Scoring was balanced for the Clear Lake team, with 11 girls contributing to the score.

Darby Dodd and Chelsey Holck were the only players to reach double figures.  Dodd scored 14-points. She was 4/5 from behind the three-point arc. Holck ended the game with 12-points and was a perfect 4/4 from the free throw line.  Sara Faber wasn’t far behind with nine points.  Jaden Ainley, Zoe Fasbender and Kaitlyn Vanderploeg all had eight-points apiece.  Rounding out the scoring was Emily Theiss with six-points, Julia Merfeld chipped in five, Layne Lester had three and Ali Maulsby and Taylor Krull had two-points apiece.

Holck and Vanderploeg led the team under the boards with five rebounds apiece.  Ainley had four rebounds and Theiss hauled in three.

Faber led the team in assists, dishing out six.  Maulsby had four assists and Merfeld, Dodd and Theiss had three assists apiece.

Vanderploeg was a force to be reckoned with under the basket, with seven blocked shots.

Merfeld, Maulsby, Holck, Theiss and Vanderploeg led the team with two steals apiece.

Clear Lake hosts Algona on Friday, Jan. 3. It should prove to be a good game.  Algona, who is is 5-2, has also been posting some lop-sided scores.  The game begins at 6:15 p.m.