Clovis girls stung in Classic semifinals

CLOVIS — If there were words to explain why the Clovis girls basketball team is not advancing to tonight's Plateau Holiday Classic final, "clank," "clunk" and "doink" would likely suffice.

Too often those words seemed accurate ways to describe what was happening to Clovis' shot attempts — especially from the foul line — in Friday night's semifinal against Farmington at Rock Staubus Gymnasium. Going 12-of-63 from the girls (10-of-51 in the paint) and 14-of-31 from the line resulted in the Lady Wildcats' 56-45 loss.

Shooting 45 percent from the line a night after shooting 40 percent (6-of-15) was especially troubling for a team that had been shooting 62 percent from the stripe prior to the tournament.

"It killed us," Clovis head coach Jeff Reed said of the Lady Wildcats' recent foul-shooting woes, "because that would've given us a chance or helped us stay in the game to make a run and possibly win."

The field-goal shooting didn't help matters.

"There's only so much you can do to stop them (on defense)," Reed said. "You're going to have to score eventually. ... That kind of stuff kills you. You've got to have shooting."

Clovis led 13-11 after one period, but the free-throw shooting started becoming a factor in the second, and the Lady Wildcats trailed 23-19 to a large extent because of it.

Clovis actually led 25-23 early in the third, thanks to a 6-0 run that includes two Teya Morris field goals sandwiched around a pair of Madison Tolbert free throws.

But Clovis' shooting went cold, and Farmington snuck back ahead, 29-25. Clovis still trailed at the third quarter's end, but only 31-30.

Farmington, however, led the entire fourth quarter and pulled away with an 11-0 run after a Sydni Hill trey had brought Clovis to within 37-35.

Clovis will play Randall in tonight's 5:50 p.m. third-place game. The Farmington-Piedra Vista title game is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.