Two wins and a loss for CL girls

The Clear Lake girls sandwiched two North Central Conference wins around a loss to top rated Crestwood last week.  With victories over Algona and Humboldt, the Lions (16-2, 11-0) have a tight hold on the NCC title with three conference games remaining.  This week they hosted Iowa Falls-Alden last night (Tuesday). They will be at Fort Dodge St. Ed’s Friday, Feb. 2, and home Tuesday, Feb. 6, against Webster City.

CL 47, Algona 42

The Clear Lake girls picked up a road win Tuesday, Jan. 23, at Algona, keeping their perfect record in the NCC intact.  The Lions outscored the host Bulldogs in the second and fourth quarters to escape with a five-point victory, 47-42.

“Our girls did a nice job finding the mismatch on offense and attacking it, with Jordyn Barragy being the primary option.  She had a pretty good night,” said Coach Bart Smith.  Barragy finished with a team-high 18 points.

Sara Faber was also in double figures with 11 points and five rebounds.

Algona held a 7-5 lead after one quarter, but the Lions held a 24-22 lead at halftime.  After a close third quarter, the Lions outscored the Bulldogs, 14-10, for the win.

Crestwood 65, CL 31

Top rated Crestwood (3A) flexed its considerable muscle against the third ranked Lions Thursday in Cresco.  The Cadets started fast and never looked back on a 65-31 trounce of the Lions.

“They are a really good team that shot really well in the first quarter,” said Coach Bart Smith.  “It takes a lot of energy to get back into the game.”

Despite being down 24-8 after the first quarter, the Lions didn’t give up and played an even second period to go into the break down 35-19.

Coach Smith was hoping for a fresh start after the rest but said the team was “pretty flat coming out of half and didn’t execute or defend very well to get back into the game.”

The Cadets outscored the Lions 20-7 and 10-5 in the second half to move their record to 19-0.

For the second game in a row Jordyn Barragy was the top scorer for the Lions.  The senior had 12 points.  Sara Faber contributed nine points and led the team with six rebounds.   Lexi Fasbender put in four points, while Zoe Fasbender and Julia Merfeld each had three.

“I thought we played hard, but just didn’t do some little things to keep us in the game,” said Coach Smith.

CL 54, Humboldt 24

The Lions started slow, but then poured it on for a commanding 54-24 victory over Humboldt Friday, Jan. 26.  The win has the Lions just one victory away from winning the conference outright.

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“We had a bad first quarter shooting, which the girls didn’t get down about.  I thought we took good shots, they just didn’t fall,” said Coach Smith. “We are in a good spot right now and need to continue the growth going into these last two weeks.”

Both teams had trouble finding their rhythm at the start and after the first eight-minutes the score was just 5-3, Clear Lake.  After that the game was all Lions, as they held the Wildcats to just five points in the second and third quarters while steadily building a lead.

Three Lions finished in double figures.  Jordyn Barragy drained four of five three-point attempts and paced the team with 15 points.  followed by Sara Faber with 14 and Lexi Fasbender with 11.  Faber dominated on the boards with seven rebounds.

Five other Lions contributed the the scoring.  Chloe Mueller, Gretchen Jones, Zoe Fasbender and Mikayla Vanderploeg each had three points.  Kaitlyn Vanderploeg added two.

Faber, Mueller and Jones had four steals apiece in the game.

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