Luckily for the Linn-Mar girls, the season is still young.

The Lions lost their second game in a row (and third in the last four) in a lackluster showing at home Friday night, 50-35, to Cedar Falls.

"We’re struggling right now,” acknowledged second-year Linn-Mar coach Jaime Brandt. “There are a lot of things that aren’t clicking.

“We’ve got a lot to work on, but the good thing is we’ve got ‘til the end of February to work things out.”

As was the case in a 60-47 loss at Kennedy Tuesday night, the Class 5A 11th-ranked Lions (6-3, 4-2 MVC) were again plagued by poor shooting and shoddy ballhandling.

They were just 12-for-41 from the field (29 percent), including five out of 20 from 3-point range. And they committed 21 turnovers, mostly on bad passes.

“That’s not a good combination,” Brandt said. “You can’t win games with that many turnovers. And we did not shoot the ball well.”

Credit the 12th-ranked Tigers (9-1, 6-0 MVC), though, with playing a solid all-around game (except from the free throw line). They shot a respectable 40 percent (18-for-45), with six 3's out of 17 attempts. They also out-rebounded the Lions, 28-22.

“Before the Christmas break, as a team I thought we needed to play with a little more passion and a little more purpose,” Cedar Falls coach Gregg Groen said. “That’s one of the things we worked on. And tonight we played with a lot of good energy.

“I thought we moved the ball and were unselfish.”

The Tigers also got big games from a pair of sophomores, 6-foot-1 Kiana Barney and 6-foot-3 Cynthia Wolf. Each scored 18 points and were praised by their coach for their defensive work on Linn-Mar star Amanda Ollinger.

Wolf scored nine baskets, all of them on nifty moves around the basket. Barney, meanwhile, swished four from behind the arc.

Ollinger, on the other hand, scored just eight points (11 below her average) on 2-for-11 shooting. She also had eight rebounds, five blocks and three assists but made five turnovers.

“We really didn’t do anything special on her,” Groen said. “With their size, we thought both Kiana and Cynthia matched up pretty well, both inside and outside.

“We just rotated on her man-to-man, and I thought both girls did a good job.”

Although the Tigers held the lead from start to fish, the Lions kept it close early thanks largely to super-sub Megan Murphy. The 5-foot-7 sophomore sank four first-half 3-point bombs against Kennedy and connected for three more in the first quarter on Friday.

“We knew she could get the hot hand,” Groen said.

Murphy was shut out the rest of the way, but her nine points were topped only by team leader Kamryn Finley with 10.

Ahead just 24-22 at half, Cedar Falls ripped off an 11-0 run after the intermission. The Lions didn’t score until Ollinger made a layup with 2:35 to go in the third quarter.

Their fourth-quarter performance was even more dismal as they made just one field goal and four free throws.

“Linn-Mar’s a very talented team,” Groen said. “So this is a big win for us. It gives us some confidence and momentum.”

Brandt said her team is going in the opposite direction.

“We’ve got a ton of talent,” she agreed. “We just have to figure out what works.

“We have time to figure it out. And then I think we’ll get rolling.”

The Lions have a rivalry game with Marion at 8:20 p.m. Saturday at the U.S. Cellular Center.

CEDAR FALLS (60): R. Johnson 1 0-0 3, E. Gerdes 1 3-5 5, Conrad 2 1-3 6, Barney 5 4-7 18, Wolf 9 0-0 18, C. Johnson 0 0-0 0, Becker 00-0 0. Totals 18 8-17 50.

LINN-MAR (35): Akers 0 0-0 0, Frese 1 0-0 2, Lancial 2 0-0 4, Finley 3 2-4 10, Ollinger 2 4-4 8, Murphy 3 0-0 9, Johnson 0 0-0 0, Larson 0 0-0 0, Spies 1 0-0 2. Totals 12 6-8 35.

Halftime – Cedar Falls 24, Linn-Mar 22. 3-point goals – Cedar Falls 6 (Barney 4, Conrad 1, R. Johnson 1), Linn-Mar 5 (Murphy 3, Finley2). Fouled out – Finley.