JOLEAH STUHR OF WEBSTER CITY drives to the basket against Clear Lake on Tuesday in the WCHS Competition Gym. (DFJ photo by David Borer)

WEBSTER CITY — The Webster City girls opened North Central Conference play here Tuesday night with the reigning league champions.

The seventh-ranked (Class 3A) Lions used a big second half to get away from the Lynx, posting a 60-30 victory.

Marissa Hedeen scored nine points with five rebounds, Ady Poppen and Olivia Gallentine each contributed six points, and Joleah Stuhr added five points.

Gallentine had four rebounds, Stuhr three and Izzy Grossoehme chipped in four points.

“The score ends up being a bit lopsided again, and the third quarter is definitely not what you want, but I saw a lot of improvements on our first two games, especially in the first half,” WCHS head coach Mark Fisher said. “I thought we had stretches where we executed much better on both ends of the floor and played much more cohesive.

“On possessions where we were executing on defense, we were making it extremely tough on them, and they have a big team inside and balance around the outside.”

Hedeen knocked down three 3-pointers with Poppen sinking two.

Clear Lake, who opened the season with a loss to No. 3 (4A) Ballard, led 11-8 after the first but Webster City kept it close in the second, going into the break down by four. In the third, the Lions outscored the Lynx, 22-5.

“I thought offensively we played more free early on and did a better job with hunting space and playing advantage basketball against a very aggressive zone,” Fisher said. “The ball moved better, we knocked down open shots. Thought we were much quicker with our decisions, including getting shots off when we had space.

“Third quarters have been an issue for us so far, and that comes back to me needing to find a way to get us out of the halftime locker room better ready to adjust and play. And a big part of it also for us is we’re still young and still building. We haven’t had a lot of success lately and we’re still learning the consistency it takes to win.”

Up next for Webster City will be ninth-ranked (2A) Aplington-Parkersburg on Friday on the road.

“We can’t play great for stretches and then completely breakdown for stretches,” Fisher said. “We have a tendency right now to let little mistakes snow ball in to bigger mistakes, and as we are able to gain the experience and confidence to play through those little mistakes, we’ll start to see how good we can be.”