Lady Cats turn back Roswell High

Staff report

RIO RANCHO — Clovis High’s girls rode a quick start into the semifinals of the Mel Otero Invite on Thursday and will face a fellow potential Class 6A state challenger in La Cueva.

Senior guard Danni Williams scored 20 points and the Lady Wildcats worked around foul trouble to dispatch Roswell High 43-31, improving to 5-1 for the season and handing the Lady Coyotes their first loss.

Tonight’s semifinal against La Cueva (4-1) is set for a 5 p.m. tipoff.

“We had a good start and then we faded away,” CHS coach Jeff Reed said. “We had a chance to blow it open (early), but we just kept the door open for them.”

Clovis built a 15-5 lead at the quarter, but had trouble putting Roswell High (4-1) away. Seniors Nichele Hyman and Dee Briggins came out of the game with three fouls each in the second quarter, and both sat out all of the third stanza.

Without them, the Lady Cats managed to get a 10-10 standoff in the third period, maintaining a nine-point lead, behind seven points from Williams.

“She pretty much took over with Dee and Nichele sitting out,” said Reed, whose team was coming off a 49-45 loss to Abilene Wylie on Saturday in the finals of Canyon’s Tournament of Champions. “We did what we had to do — hold them off.”

Clovis built a 16-point lead near the end before most of the starters came out.

Freshman guard Teya Morris added seven points for the Lady Cats. Senior guard Priscilla Lucero, junior forward Gali Sanchez and sophomore guard Jaedyn De La Cerda shared scoring honors for Roswell High with eight points apiece.