Lions fall to Ballard in season opener

(Above) Clear Lake’s Xada Johnson muscles her way around a Ballard defender, while Brooklyn Eden looks on.  -Reporter photos by Chris Barragy

by Marianne Gasaway

Ballard demonstrated the state championship form it showed last year in Class 4A and topped Clear Lake, 46-31, in the season-opener for both teams Tuesday night, Nov. 23.  Ballard, which dropped to Class 3A this year, came in to the matchup ranked second, while the Lions, who also went to state last season, were rated fifth in 3A.

“Ballard is as advertised,” said Clear Lake Head Coach Bart Smith.  “They play really good defense and try to out-physical you as a team.  We had a hard time adjusting to that in the first half but our girls settled down and had a really good third quarter, beating them 17-8 allowing us to have a chance in the fourth quarter to be close enough to pull out the win.”

The Bombers jumped out to a 10-3 first quarter advantage and built their lead to 23-10 by halftime, but the Lions never gave up and trimmed the deficit to four by the end of the third quarter, 31-27.

Ballard fought off the Lions comeback by outscoring the home team, 15-4, in the final eight-minutes to get the win.

“I loved our effort throughout the whole game,” said Coach Smith.  “We ran out of gas at the end of the third quarter trying to get back in the game.  They

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hit a couple back-to-back threes to start the fourth and we just couldn’t make that up.”

Clear Lake was led by Jaden Ainley with 17-points.  Sophomore Xada Johnson had six-points at center. She was a perfect four-for-four at the free throw line.  Brooklyn Eden put in six points and Jordan Mayland and Annika Nelson had two apiece.

Ballard had a powerful senior-led scoring punch with Brooke Loewe putting in 15-points, Kylie Rigby 14 and Meg Lietz nine.  The three also paced their team in rebounds and assists.

Nelson and Emily Theiss paced the team in rebounds with seven and five respectively. 

Nelson, Theiss and Ainley also had two steals apiece.

“A lot to work on still— conditioning, rebounding and decision-making, but our third quarter showed us a little bit of what this year’s team is capable of,” said Smith.

The Clear Lake girls (0-1) are back in action Friday, Dec. 3, at Algona (0-1).  That game marks the start of North Central Conference play.  The Bulldogs fell, 56-41, to Forest City in their first game of the season played Nov. 23.

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