CL girls rack up some easy wins

(Above) Chelsey Holck (23) clears a path for Emily Theiss during the West Fork game Tuesday night.  The Lions topped the Warhawks, 76-27.  -Reporter photo by Chris Barragy

The Clear Lake girls (3-0) are looking like a well-oiled machine just three games into the 2019-20 season.  For the third straight game the Lions held their opponent to just 27 points, more than doubling the score for easy wins.

CL 76, West Fork 27

The Lions wasted no time putting host West Fork in a hole Tuesday night, Dec. 3.  Clear Lake rushed out to a 29-8 first quarter lead and never looked back. They won the non-conference test, 76-27.

“I was happy with our start to the game,” said Head Coach Bart Smith.  “We made plays defensively and made shots early so it was nice to see our girls execute early.  We need to recognize when our post have a good seal inside and get some touches in there.”

Although dominant, the coach knows there are still things his team can improve upon.

“We missed 15 threes in a row, which is something we need to understand.  We have some post players that are good passers out of the post.  Our guard needs to understand inside out threes are good threes to shoot,” said Smith.  “We still need to clean some things up on our press.  We gave them some easy buckets because of some bad rotations.  Our bench was good again and gave us some valuable minutes.”

Starters Sara Faber and Chelsey Holck scored 19 and 12 points respectively, but Darcy Dodd came off the bench to also score 12.  Zoe Fasbender was the fourth Lion to finish in double figures with 11 points.

Every player on the team scored.  Julia Merfeld finished with five points, followed by Lexi Fasbender, Jaden Ainley and Emily Theiss with four apiece.  Ali Maulsby added three point and Kaitlyn VanderPloeg chipped in two.

Holck was the leader on the boards with five rebounds.  Merfeld had a team-high six assists and five steals.

CL 62, C-G-D 27

Clarion-Goldfield-Dows did their best to pressure the Lions, but Clear Lake steadily compiled a 62-27 victory Friday night, Dec. 6.

“Clarion is a much improved team from last year.  They returned a lot and their girls played hard,” said Clear Lake Coach Bart Smith.  “We couldn’t seem to get a rhythm offensively in the first half.   They were doing a nice job contesting our shooters.  At half we emphasized attacking the basket better and getting the ball inside.  We were missing some seals out of our post players and our guard weren’t finding them.  It was nice to see them make those adjustments throughout the second half.”

The Lions built upon their 32-14 halftime lead and outscored the Cowgirls 30-13 in the second half, led by Sara Faber with 22-points.  Kaitlyn VanderPloeg also finished in doubled figures with 10 and a team-high eight rebounds.

Jaden Ainley was next with eight points, followed by Darcy Dodd and Zoe Fasbender with five each, and Julia Merfeld and Chelsey Holck with four points apiece.  Ali Maulsby and Lexi Fasbender each scored two points.

The Lions recorded 17 steals in the game, paced by Faber with seven.

“This team is really close to being an explosive offensive team.  To only make three three-pointers in the game and still put up 62-points is pretty impressive,” added Coach Smith.