Comets fall to Lions, 57-16, in season opener

By John Burbridge sports@charlescitypress.com

CLEAR LAKE — There may be tougher ways to open the season on the road, but not too many more challenging than when the Comets were thrown to the Lions, Tuesday while facing Class 3A No. 3-ranked Clear Lake.

Early on into the non-conference girls basketball opener, Charles City was engaged in a defensive duel against their favored opponent as the game went scoreless for nearly two minutes.

But the Lions were not going to be shutout for long. And when Clear Lake star sophomore shooting guard Sara Faber broke the deadlock with the first of her five 3-pointers, the Lions broke free while jumping out to a 21-0 lead after the first quarter before cruising to a 57-16 win.

Faber scored 17 of her game-high 21 points in the first half. Senior Gretchen Jones also attained double-figure scoring for Clear Lake with 14 points.

Charles City freshman Kiki Connell, fresh off of placing sixth at the Cross Country State Meet, proved that she has enough wind to put in substantial minutes on a given night as she led the Comets in scoring in both the junior varsity game — which Clear Lake won, 26-17 — and the subsequent varsity game as she came off the bench to score 6 points on a pair of 3-point shots.

Sophomore Olyvia Zuspan had 5 points for the Comets, including a 25-foot 3-pointer to finally get Charles City on the board in the second quarter.

The Comets will try to rebound next Monday (Nov. 27) when they host Garner-Hayfield/Ventura in their home opener.