Girls remain perfect in the conference

(Above) Clear Lake’s Jessica Faber powers her way between two defenders to put up a shot in Friday night’s game against Webster City.  Faber had seven points in the contest.  -Reporter photo by Chris Barragy

The seventh ranked (3A) Clear Lake girls notched two more wins last week, improving their record to 11-1 overall and 6-0 in the North Central Conference.  This week the Lions will play a make-up game at Humboldt Thursday.  Friday they will be at Clarion and Tuesday, Jan. 24, they will be at Algona for a key NCC test.  Algona currently sits one game back of the Lions in the NCC standings.

CL 61, New Hampton 30

There was no Monday blahs for the Lions when they traveled to New Hampton Jan. 9.  The team got right to work and tallied a 61-30 non-conference victory.

“I was happy with our start to the game.  Playing on a Monday is hard because of our lack of time for preparation and I was happy with how we came out and competed,” said Coach Bart Smith.  “This group loves to compete and that helps when we have games with little to no preparation.”

The Lions jumped out to a 23-9 first quarter lead and never looked back.  And while the offense was clicking, the defense all but shut down the Chickasaw offense.  They held the home team to just two second quarter points.  The halftime score was 41-11.

New Hampton made some adjustments at the break and played a more even second half.  The lead also allowed Coach Smith to get his bench players some experience.

Three Lions finished in double figures.  Seniors Jessica Faber and Emily Snelling led the way with 17 and 14 points respectively. Snelling was also  credited with seven assists and seven steals in the game.

Jordyn Barragy also had a good all-around game with 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds.  Sara Faber and Gretchen Jones both put in eight points, while Chloe Mueller and Julia Merfeld each had two.  Mueller and Jones had six and five assists respectively.

CL 61, Webster City 53

Despite less than perfect execution, the Lions topped Webster City in a North Central Conference game played Friday, Jan. 13.

“Early foul trouble got us out of what we like to do and that slowed the tempo and put them at the foul line,” said Coach Bart Smith.

The Lions held a 37-31 lead at halftime and widened the margin by five in the third quarter, thanks largely to the hot hand of freshman Sara Faber.  Faber poured in 22 points, on 8/10 shooting from field goal range and 2/2 beyond the arc. She also led the team with eight steals and nine rebounds.

Emily Snelling was in foul trouble throughout the game, but still managed to put in 15 points.  Jordyn Barragy scored eight, Jessica Faber had seven, and Julia Merfeld added five points.  Chloe Mueller and McKenna Backhaus each had two points.

“Our freshmen (Faber and Merfeld) contributed in a big way in this win,” noted Smith.  “An early fourth quarter run where Sara scored nine straight and Julia Merfeld had some key rebounds put the game out of reach.”