Clovis pulls away early, tops Santa Fe 44-26

CLOVIS — No, it wasn't the Clovis High girls' basketball team's most picturesque victory.

But then, any district win in February can be considered a masterpiece.

Though too often during Saturday night's 44-26 home win over Santa Fe — the first half especially — the Lady Wildcats' offense could be measured more in Zs (as in, zzzzzzz) than in Xs and Os, they did indeed get it done, even picked up the offensive pace a bit in the second half, bagged a District 2-6A win.

And, they went 2-0 during a district week for the first time all winter.

"Yeah, we'll take wins any time we can get a win right now - ugly, whatever," Clovis head coach Jeff Reed said after his team improved to 5-3 in district play, 14-10 overall. "But, this is where we need to start getting sharper. We got sloppy, we played down to their level a lot. This is where we've got to start getting a certain mentality if we're going to be the real deal. And they have a chance. If they beat Sandia on Tuesday, they're going to La Cueva (next Saturday) to play for second place."

Putting a jolt in Clovis' offensive attack against Santa Fe was senior guard Hayley Kidd, who buried three treys and notched 11 points overall, second on the team behind Teya Morris' 17.

"Very, very thrilled," Kidd said. "I'm actually pretty excited to play these last two district games and see how far it takes us."

Saturday's first quarter was a bit choppy and lethargic for Clovis, including a missed teardrop here, errant jumper there, even an airball sighting, yet the Lady 'Cats still managed to build a 14-4 lead by quarter's end. They scored the game's first five points — on a runner by freshman Mikyla Harkley and a left-elbow trey from Kidd — and after two free throws by Santa Fe's Kaya Suina, Clovis got a foul shot and field goal from Harkley on separate possessions to go up 8-2.

A Little Martinez bucket made it 8-4, and it seemed the score stayed that way for eons. With 2:41 left in the first, Morris went 1-for-2 from the line, and Antanishwa Molett did the same at the 2:09 mark, giving Clovis a 10-4 lead.

With about a minute to go in the period, Molett came up with a steal, drove quickly downcourt, and was initially blocked on a shot attempt before collecting the loose ball and putting in her own follow-up. A Morris steal and layup handed the Lady Wildcats that 14-4 advantage late in the quarter.

For the game's remainder, Clovis slowly added onto its lead. By halftime, they had only increased it by one, leading 23-12. The third quarter opened with a Santa Fe turnover that led to a Morris layup and made it a 13-point game. And after a basket from the Lady Demons' Mari Fernandez, Kidd knocked down a right-corner trey to give Clovis a 28-14 advantage.

"It felt really awesome," Kidd said of her three-point shooting prowess. "It made me really confident."

Kidd's trey was the start of a 10-0 Clovis run that also included four consecutive points from Morris and three straight from Azzianna Smith, putting the Lady 'Cats ahead 35-14.

That, however, was followed by an 8-0 Santa Fe run that sliced Clovis' lead to 35-22 and caused Reed to ask for a timeout. After he and the Lady Wildcats talked it over, Kidd hit her last trey of the night, and Clovis' next possession ended with a Molett basket, putting the Lady 'Cats ahead by a commanding 40-22 count. It was gravy from there.

Clovis, as Reed noted, goes for three in a row at Sandia on Tuesday. It will be the last week of regular-season play, and the games will only get more important as the Lady Wildcats move forward.

"If we put it all together," Reed said, "and get charged up for this big game Tuesday, it'll be pretty exciting."

"Our mindset is, we want to just go out there and we just want to win," Kidd said. "We just want to win it all."