Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
ALBUQUERQUE — Clovis High girls coach Jeff Reed knew his team had a tall order on Tuesday night trying to upend an Eldorado squad, especially on its home court, that the Lady Wildcats had lost to by more than 20 points in a December tournament in Rio Rancho.
They were off to a good start, though, leading 11-8 late in the first quarter. Then scoring leader Teya Morris went down with a knee injury, and the tide quickly turned.
Senior guard Sydney Candelaria scored 15 points and the Eagles pulled away to a 48-25 victory over the Lady Cats in the District 2-6A opener for both teams.
Clovis (7-10) was outscored 17-4 in the second quarter to fall behind by 10 points, and wasn’t able to mount any sort of comeback in the second half.
“I really felt we could pull off an upset,” Reed said. “She goes down with a knee injury and everything fell apart.”
Morris was injured in a collision involving three players, Reed said, adding that he didn’t know the severity of the injury after the game. He said Morris was taken to a local hospital for treatment.
Candelaria erupted for 31 points, including 14 in the fourth quarter, of Eldorado’s 66-42 win over CHS in the fifth-place game of the Mel Otero Invite on Dec. 10. This time, she managed only four points in the first half.
“For most of the game, we held her in check,” Reed said. “We did a lot better job on her this time.”
Junior guard Vivian Chavez added 10 points for Eldorado (10-3). Morris tallied six points before she went out, and shared Lady Cats scoring honors with senior guard Alyssa Loya,
Clovis returns to Albuquerque on Saturday to continue district play with a 6:30 p.m. matchup against Manzano. The Monarchs carried a 1-14 mark into their district opener on Tuesday against La Cueva.
