Girls face big tests this week in and out of conference

(Above) Clear Lake’s Ali Maulsby looks to feed the ball inside against Clarion-Goldfield-Dows Friday.  The Lions notched another North Central Conference win, 51-21.-Reporter photo by Chris Barragy.

The Clear Lake girls are in the driver’s seat as they head into the final stretch of the North Central Conference season.  The Lions, who remain rated number three in Class 3A, are 14-1 overall and 9-0 in the NCC.  This week will test the teams’ mettle, as they were slated to travel to Algona (12-3, 7-2) Tuesday to face the conference’s second place team.  From there they step out of the league on Thursday to battle top ranked (3A) Crestwood (15-0) in Cresco before another road game on Friday at Humboldt (5-10, 4-5).

The Lions notched two more victories over North Central Conference competition last week.

CL 51, H-D 36

Balanced scoring and stiff defense, especially in the first half, helped the Clear Lake girls notch an NCC win over Hampton-Dumont (5-10, 3-6) Tuesday, Jan. 16.  Clear Lake stayed unbeaten in the league with a 51-36 victory.

“It was a win.  Our defense is really good and I think we have a leg up on anyone we play because of that,” said Coach Bart Smith.

The Lion defense was especially potent in the first half.  After jumping out to a 13-8 first quarter lead, Clear Lake held their opponent to only four points in the second quarter and took a 24-12 lead into the break.

Eight players suited up for the varsity game and seven figured in the scoring.

Sara Faber paced the Lions with 14 points, while Ali Maulsby and Lexi Fasbender had nine and eight points respectively.  Zoe Fasbender added six points, Julia Merfeld four, and Chloe Mueller finished with three points.

Mueller was the team leader in rebounds with six.

Despite the win, Coach Smith said his team needs to focus on improving its offense.

“Our offensive production is becoming an issue. I didn’t think we executed very well and Hampton did a nice job switching up defenses on us to get us out of an offensive rhythm.  We need to start getting consistent on the offensive end and stop having scoring slumps if we want to be a really good team.  We had a few occasions during the game where we didn’t score for three minutes and that will not work versus good teams.”

CL 51, C-G-D 21

It was more of the same for the Lions against Clarion-Goldfield-Dows (6-9, 2-7) Friday night.  The Lions treated the home crowd to a 51-21 win.

“Great defense again for us, but still didn’t have a solid offensive night, but it was better,” said Coach Smith.  “I thought we moved the ball really well and had some good looks, but we missed a lot of shots by the basket.  We took care of the ball, which is important now toward the end of the season.”

The Lions held the Cowgirls to single digit scoring in all four quarters.  At halftime the lead was 28-8.  Vanessa Kolb led C-G-D with four points.

Lexi Fasbender had a strong game for the Lions.  The sophomore shot at a 64 percent clip on her way to 17 points.  She also had four steals and three rebounds.  Sara Faber also finished in double figures with 14 points, six steals, five assists and three rebounds.

Chloe Mueller and Julia Merfeld each finished with six points.  Mikayla Vanderploeg scored four and Jordyn Barragy and Zoe Fasbender put in two points apiece.