Cornell fights to the end in Regional loss at Clear Lake

By Ginna Young

Facing off against No. 5 Clear Lake in their Regional bracket, Cornell’s girls basketball squad made the trek to Clear Lake as a No. 12 seed Feb. 23.

“I can say nothing other than how proud I am of these girls,” said coach Courtney Yanko. “Having a team that is primarily freshman and sophomores, we worked so hard all season and saw so many positive improvements.”

Clear Lake jumped out ahead of the Chiefs early on, going into the break up by 16. Cornell stepped up their play in the second half and their shots started to fall.

“Unfortunately, tonight, we fell short,” said Yanko. “Our defense was definitely something to be reckoned with; however, offensively, we were finding and taking great shots, but we could not get the ball to go through the hoop in the first half.”

Time wasn’t on their side and before the Chiefs could catch up, Clear Lake took a 50-28 victory, ending Cornell’s season.

“The girls fought all the way to the end of the game and that is truly all I could ask for,” said Yanko.

Leading for the Chiefs, was junior Kelsea Popp, who came away with 8 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists, while freshman Bralee Schroeder also had 8 points, adding 5 rebounds. Senior Teaira Spaeth recorded 6 points and a rebound, with sophomore Lauren Samardzich notching 6 points, while nabbing 2 rebounds.

Sophomore Makya Hetherington finished with 4 rebounds and 2 assists, followed by sophomore Teryn Close, with 3 points. Marcella Boehm chipped in with 2 points and 2 rebounds, and freshman Alyssa Bowe rounded out the scoring, with 1 point and 1 rebound.

For Spaeth, that marks the end of her high school basketball career. Although Spaeth will be missed, as will her leadership and experience, Yanko is already looking forward to next year, to see the underclassmen move into the upperclassmen spots.

“Cornell girls basketball has been building and we have work to do this summer, but I am so excited for our future,” said Yanko.