Girls battle Unity Christian in semi-final

Kaitlyn VanderPloeg led the team with 12 points and six rebounds.  

-Reporter photo by Chris Barragy

by Marianne Gasaway

A cold start was too much for Clear Lake to overcome in the Class 3A semi-final game played Thursday, March 4.  Unity Christian hit seven of their first eight shots in charging to a 22-6 lead.  They went on to eliminate Clear Lake, 58-42, to earn a chance at claiming a third state title. 

Clear Lake missed its first eight shots and once the Lions found their shooting touch, they had too much ground to make up.

“If we could do it all over again, we’d want that first quarter back,” said Coach Bart Smith after the game.  “After that first quarter, it’s a two point game.” 

In fact, the Lions outscored the Knights in the second and fourth quarters.

Clear Lake cut the lead to eight-points midway through the second quarter when Darby Dodd nailed the first of three three-pointers she would have in the game.  

But that was as close as the game would get.

Sisters Gracie and Janie Schoonhoven led the way, as Unity Christian shot 54.5 percent in the first half and 47 percent for the game, connecting on a series of fastbreak layups, layups after steals and slick passes into the low post. The Knights piled up 36 points in the paint and outscored the Lions 16-0 on fastbreak points. 

Gracie Schoonhoven, a sophomore, finished with 20 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Janie, a senior, had 14 points and 10 rebounds for her second double- double of the tournament. The two combined to make 14 of 28 shots and they often feed off one another. 

“They’re a great ball club.  They’ve got a lot of great scorers and a lot of people you’ve got to concentrate on,” said Coach Smith.  “When they went to the 1-3-1 I thought we settled in a little bit and were able to make some shots and  move the ball around a bit.  But with good teams like that you can’t have bad starts, because they’re a good team.  They’re going to make you pay for that.”

Senior Kaitlyn VanderPloeg led Clear Lake with 12 points and six rebounds, while Jaden Ainley scored 10 points.  Dodd ended the game with nine points, Emily Theiss had eight, and Ali Maulsby finished with three. 

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Clear Lake, which made it to State for the sixth time in eight years, finished 19-2.  Its only other loss was to Class 4A Waverly-Shell Rock. 

The Lions graduate five seniors from its 2021 team: Ali Maulsby, Chelsey Holck, Darby Dodd, Kaitlyn VanderPloeg and Zoe Fasbender.  

Five juniors and a full slate of underclassmen who gained valuable playing experience this season will be back.  And they are determined to carry on Clear Lake’s winning tradition.

“We’ve got some unfinished business.  We’re coming for that State title next year,” promised Ainley.

In the immediate future, Smith said he will savor the accomplishments of his 2021 team.

“We have some good, young talent coming in,” said Coach Smith.  “Ainley and Theiss played really well as juniors.  We’ll fill the cupboard again and try to be down here again next year.  For now, we’ll kind of sit back and enjoy what we did this year. We’ll get to work at it again when summer comes around.”

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