CL girls pass tough tests

(Above) Clear Lake’s Ali Maulsby laid up a shot against a Mason City player.  Maulsby ended the night with eight points.  -Reporter photo by Chris Barragy

by Marianne Gasaway

Fourth ranked Clear Lake (3A) was tested last week, but kept their perfect record intact with victories over non-conference rival Mason City and Humboldt in the North Central Conference opener.

CL 65, Mason City 54

“That was a good game played by two good teams,” said Clear Lake Coach Bart Smith after the win. “I thought Coach Hill had our girls ready to play and they kept their composure when Mason City made a small run in the fourth quarter.”

It was a back and forth affair in the first half, with Clear Lake holding a slim 15-13 advantage after one quarter of play.  The Mohawks outscored the Lions, 22-18, in the second quarter for a 35-34 lead at the half.

Jaden Ainley, Emily Theiss and Xada Johnson provided the Lions with an inside-outside scoring threat in the second half, helping their team to a three-point, 47-44, advantage heading into the final eight-minutes.

The Mohawks made a run in the fourth quarter, but the Lion defense stepped up for the win.

“They could have gone up seven with the ball, but our girls got a nice defensive stop and got a score on the other end.  We had some big plays made in the fourth quarter to extend our lead and I was very happy to see our girls win a game like that,” said Smith.

Ainley finished with 18 points.  Theiss put in 15 and Johnson scored 13. Ainley and Johnson also had eight rebounds, as did Ali Maulsby, who also scored eight-points.

The remainder of the scoring came from Chelsey Holck with six, Jordan 

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GIRLS BB

from page 9A

Maryland three, and Annika Nelson, two-points.

CL 55, Humboldt 42

The Lions were on the road at Humboldt Friday night for their first NCC game of the season.  The team picked up its fifth win, 55-42.

“Humboldt is a good team that knows its strengths.  They have some good guards that can take care of the ball and could get the ball to their top scorer.  We struggled to create turnovers with our pressure but we were able to take advantage of our height and give them problems on the defensive end,” said Coach Smith. 

The Lions used a 12-2 run during the first four-minutes of the third quarter to put a little distance between themselves and the Wildcats.  Late in the period Humboldt sunk some three-pointers to cut the lead to 10, but that is about as close as they would get.

“We did a nice job finding our post players in transition and also our guards made some nice reads in our half court offense,” explained Coach Smith.  “It’s nice to have that presence when shots aren’t falling.  

Smith noted the all-out play of junior Jaden Ainley earned her a double-double. Ainley scored 23 points and had 10 rebounds. The junior also kept the Wildcats on edge with five steals.

Center Xada Johnson had a solid night, hitting four of seven shot attempts for eight points.  Chelsey Holck added six and Ali Maulsby and Emily Theiss each scored four-points. 

Kaitlyn VanderPloeg paced the team on the boards with seven rebounds. The senior also scored seven. Jordan Mayland came off the bench to put in three points and Annicka Nelson had one.

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