Clear Lake girls remain undefeated in NCC with three big wins last week

(Above) Emily Theiss was one of the leading scorers for the Lions with 12-points.  The Lions defeated the Wildcats, 47-34.  -Reporter photos by Chris Barragy

by Marianne Gasaway

Clear Lake stayed undefeated in the North Central Conference with three important wins last week.  The Lions manhandled Algona, St. Ed’s and Humboldt on their way to a 9-2 overall record. 

“I am very proud of our girls and how they handled a tough week.  We have more of those coming so we have to continue to be tough and finish strong,” said Head Coach Bart Smith.

This week the Lions were slated to go to Clarion last night (Tuesday, Jan. 25) and will be at Hampton Friday.  

CL 60, Algona 22

The Lions found an offensive rhythm against Algona Tuesday, Jan. 18, and rolled to a 60-22 victory. 

“We moved the ball well and took good shots.  Our decision making and sureness with the ball was very good,” said Coach Smith.

The Lions jumped out to a 23-4 first quarter lead and were up 39-10 at the half.  Clear Lake’s defense was also unrelenting, as they held the Bulldogs scoreless in the final eight-minutes.

Jaden Ainley and Emily Theiss were an unstoppable one-two punch for the Lions. Ainley pumped in 17-points and Theiss had 15.  

Brooklyn Eden had a hot hand coming off the bench to score 12.   The junior also had a four of Clear Lake’s 17 steals in the game.  Theiss led the way in that category with five.

Xada Johnson finished with seven-points, followed by Jordan Mayland with three and Annika Nelson with two. Nelson led the team in assists and rebounds with five.  Autumn VanHorn also had two points for the Lions.

CL 64, St. Ed’s 9

Defense was the name of the game Thursday, as the Lions held conference cellar-dwellers St. Ed’s to just nine points.  Clear Lake won, 64-9.

“Our defensive pressure made it hard for them to be very productive offensively,” said Coach Smith.  “We forced a lot of turnovers and did a nice job of turning them into points.”

The Lions forced 28 turnovers by the Gaels.  The visitor only got off 27 shots in the contest and made three. They sunk two of four free throws.

The entire Clear Lake roster is reflected in statistics from the game.

Jaden Ainley was the scoring leading with 20-points.  Jordan Mayland had her most productive game with 14-points and Emily Theiss put in 10.  Theiss and Ainley had six and five steals respectively.  

Freshman Reese Brownlee added nine-points and had a team-high five rebounds. Carsyn Holland and Ashlyn Fread each had three points.  Ava Richtsmeier and Xada Johnson scored two points apiece.  Rebecca DeLong had one point.

CL 47, Humboldt 34

The Lions faced more of a test on Friday when Humboldt came to town.  They passed with flying colors, as they posted a 47-34 victory.

“Our defense was really good in the first half.  We were talking really well and just had some great focus,” said Coach Smith.  “I would have liked to seen that continue in the second half.  We still played hard, but we just didn’t play as smart defensively.  Offensively we took really good shots and just missed them and I think that got us frustrated and maybe contributed to our defense not being as good as it was in the first half.”

Clear Lake opened with a 14-3 first half scoring advantage and was ahead, 27-9 at the half.  The Wildcats outscored the Lions in each of the final quarters, 13-11 and 12-9.

Jaden Ainley and Emily Theiss led the way, scoring 13 and 12-points respectively.  Xada Johnson came off the bench to add 10.  The remainder of the scoring came from Jordan Mayland with five, Autumn VanHorn scored three and Brooklyn Eden and Reese Brownlee had two-points apiece.

Johnson controlled the boards with 10 rebounds.