The early stages of Clarke’s home game with Davis County had the makings of the thrilling contest that took place when the Lady Indians defeated Davis County by six on Jan. 2.
Instead, Clarke stretched an 18-13 lead less than five minutes into the game into a 16-1 run, and a 55-23 halftime lead in the highest scoring half for the program since 2012 (44 in a game against Mount Ayr) and more than any half that could be traced back over the last decade, to end an eight-game losing streak.
The win improved Clarke's record to 5-14 and 3-9 in the South Central Conference.
Deseree Stubbe and Megan Linksens both had hot shooting hands in the early going. Stubbe scored 13 of the team's first 18 points, and the duo ended up combining for 45 points.
“We knew they were going to come out strong and want revenge. We knew we had to come out firing," Stubbe said.
Stubbe drilled four 3-pointers, Linskens knocked down three and Sarah Davis also hit three treys on her way to 13 points.
After the fiery-hot start shooting the ball, Clarke began scoring in bunches by pushing the tempo.
“Offensively, our goal was to push the ball, get a few fast breaks and they did a good job of that," Clarke coach Christa Subbert said. "Got the rebound, pushed it up the floor, our girls were running and they were open for easy layups. Then when we didn’t get the easy layups, we worked the ball around on offense which is something we’ve really been working on in practice and we found the open people.”
Because of this style, assists came aplenty. Linskens led the Lady Indians with six assists, while Davis and Oehlert had four each.
After DC's solid start on offense, it only ended up shooting 32 percent from the floor.
Clarke switched its defense late in the first, and it paid healthy dividends.
“Defensively we switched it up. We were going to a 1-2-2 zone," Subbert said. "We switched it up to a 2-3 to get more help inside rebounding wise. They got a few rebounds early for putbacks.”
Senior players Coraima Corona and Christiana Davis were honored in a ceremony between the girls and boys games.
“This was Coraima’s second year out for basketball. She’s a soccer player. We try to incorporate soccer as much as we can for her," Subbert said. "She’s a fun girl to be around. her attitude is good. She gets excited for people when they do well.”
While it is Davis' first year playing varsity basketball, she has worked diligently to prepare the varsity and in junior varsity ball.
“It’s fun to see the other girls teaching her and walking her through things," Subbert said.
The Lady Indians open up Class 3A regional play in a rematch with Albia on Saturday, Dec.
DC — 14 23 33 42
Clarke — 31 55 70 74
DC (FG FT PTS) — 16 7-17 42. (PTS) Megan Clark 11, Bailea Yahnke 9, Alexa Francis 8, Shelby Motykowski 6, Kennedy Clyman 4, Klaire Fipps 4. 3-pt. goals — 3. Rebounds —32 (Motykowski 9, Yahnke 8). Assists — 10. Steals — 6. Fouls — 12. Fouled out — none.
Cla (FG FTS PTS) — 25 14-17 72 Deseree Stubbe 10 3-4 27, Megan Linskens 7 1-1 18, Sarah Davis 4 2-2 13, Ashlynn Oehlert 2 2-4 6, CeJay Blakely 1 2-2 4, Kaitlyn Halsband 0 4-4 4, Kiaya Dunbar 1 0-0 2. 3-pt. goals — 10 (Stubbe 4, Linskens 3, Davis 3). Rebounds — 34 (Stubbe 7, Oehlert 7, Blakely 4, Tori White 3, Halsband 3, Dunbar 2, Davis 2). Assists — 18 ( Linskens 6, Oehlert 4, Davis 4, Blakely 2). Steals — 15 (Davis 6, Oehlert 3, Stubbe 3, Linskens 2). Fouls — 16. Fouled out — none.
CENTERVILLE — Earlier last week, the Lady Indians fell at the hands of Centerville, 56-43. A slow start plagued the Lady Indians, as the 11-point first quarter deficit proved too much to come back from.
Stubbe scored 22 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the loss.
Linskes scored 12 points and unselfishly dished out seven assists.
Davis added the other nine points.
Oehlert and Blakely both pulled down five rebounds and tallied three assists each.
This coming Saturday's home game against Winterset Saturday is the Coaches Vs. Cancer game. The Lady Indians round out the regular season Thursday, Feb. 8 when they host Van Meter.
Cobey Robins scored 34 points in Clarke’s 76-56 victory over visiting Davis County Friday, and he wasn’t even the most satisfied player on the floor for the Indians after their second win of the season.
"Cobey was fantastic. He didn’t want to let those guys down on senior night," Clarke coach Jim Dingeman said."
Those guys that he's referring to?
That distinction would belong to seniors Remington Cook, Zach Smith and Byron Rivera, who as a trio combined to score 27 points in the 20-point victory in which they operated on all cylinders in the second half.
“They were just working really hard," Dingeman said. "They were giving us the communication that we sometimes don’t get. Then they just seemed to find their way into the right places."
One defining sequence in the game featured Cook grabbing an offensive rebound, he then passed to Smith, who looked outward toward the 3-point line to an open Rivera for a triple.
Splash. 3-pointer. 13-point lead.
Robins followed that with a bucket through a foul and hit the free throw.
Before that, Smith helped key a run as he dropped in two outback bank shots and jump started several fast breaks with steals by playing heads up defense.
"Zach found his way into one easy buckets and hit a huge three for us," Dingeman said. "Remington played big time in the middle of our zone in the second half. With those guys talking so much, everybody knew where everybody was.”
For Robins, the win produced a great feeling with the knowledge that the seniors left the court gleaming with smiles.
“It feels great, especially when all three of them played their hearts out and played good minutes. They showed what they could do tonight. It helped a lot," Robins said.
“That was the best time we’ve had in the locker room all year."
The mood wasn't cheerful in the opening minutes. After the senior night ceremony that honored the three Indians, Clarke took to the floor and fell behind the Mustangs 11-0.
Cook got the scoring going with a corner 3-pointer and Robins scored consecutive buckets to get Clarke right back in the game.
A Payton Winship basket, sandwiched between two more Robins buckets brought the score to 14-14 late in the first quarter.
Smith's huge scoring sequence came in the second quarter, when he grabbed an offensive rebound and tossed the ball right back in off the glass for two, then moments later, took an assist from Trevor Boyce and knocked down a triple for a 24-22 lead.
The Mustangs had answers, namely thanks to Jaxson Sharp, who scored 18 points and swatted three shots emphatically and helped his team take a 35-33 lead into the second half.
Smith and Rivera quickly score do start the third quarter to open up an 11-2 run to start the second half. Clarke excelled from that point forward.
“When we’ve got the zone press and all that stuff going on, those kids, you could tell they were frustrated with the ball and that’s what you've got to do and that’s what makes us happy the most. Especially with Lenny (Peavy)) and me up top, that makes it fun," Robins said.
Clarke, now 2-15, will have played Lamoni by time of press. The Indians play at Martensdale-St. Marys today (Thursday). They host Winterset for Coaches vs. Cancer Night Saturday, and play at Interstate 35 Friday, Feb. 9.
DC — 16 35 50 56
Clarke — 14 33 59 76
DC (FG FT PTS) — 23 7-14 56. Jaxson Sharp 6 6-10 18, Reegan Warning 5 0-0 10, Trevor Slayton 5 0-1 10, Ivan Garcia 2 1-2 5, Riley Heller 2 0-0 4, Clay Guiter 1 0-0 3, Alex Lynch 1 0-1 3, Noah Zmolek 1 0-0 3. 3-pt. goals — 3. Rebounds —36 (Sharp 10). Assists — 14 (Garcia 6).
Cla (FG FTS PTS) — 27 13-27 76. Cobey Robins 13 4-6 34, Zach Smith 4 1-2 10, Byron Rivera 4 1-2 10, Remington Cook 2 2-2 7, Lenny Peavy 1 4-12 7, Dalton Stubbe 1 1-2 4, Taylor Henry 1 0-0 2, Payton Winship 1 0-0 2. 3-pt. goals — 9 (Robins 4, Smith 1, Stubbe 1, Rivera 1, Peavy 1, Cook 1). Rebounds — 29 (Sam Cooley 8, Stubbe 3, Smith 3, Trevor Boyce 3, Rivera 3, Cook 3). Assists — 12 ( Peavy 4, Smith 2, Rivera 2). Fouls — 18. Fouled out — none.
CENTERVILLE — Last Tuesday, the Clarke boys fell at Centerville 76-41.
Rivera's 21 points led the way in the loss.
