Clovis girls move on in districts

CLOVIS — Moving on. That is perhaps the sweetest two-word phrase in postseason tournament play.

The third-seeded Clovis girls basketball team is indeed moving on in the District 2-6A tournament thanks to Tuesday's impressive 57-32 victory over Santa Fe at Rock Staubus Gymnasium.

It was close early, with Santa Fe still making a game of it early in the second quarter. But Clovis took command in that period, and was well on its way to earning a second-round game tonight, beginning at 6:30 p.m. against Manzano, a 47-44 winner over Sandia.

The Lady Wildcats earned that right with steady offense, decent foul-shooting (19-of-30, 63 percent) and their trademark stellar defense that held Santa Fe to single digits in every quarter except the last, and even then the Lady Demons only broke into double-digits in the final minute of play.

"Except for that fourth quarter, we held them to single digits and that's what our goal is every game — to hold them to single digits a quarter," Clovis head coach Jeff Reed said. "But, what I was happy and pleased with tonight was that we broke out a little offensively. 57 points; I know that's not a lot, but for us that's a lot this year. If we would've kept playing starters, maybe we could've gotten to 60 or 70. So it was a great win."

"I feel really good. We've kind of getting it there where it's supposed to be," Clovis senior guard Hayley Kidd said after leading the Wildcats with 13 points, which tied Santa Fe's Adonica Baca-Martinez for the game-high.

Kidd and her teammates started a little slowly, though, not taking their first lead until three and a half minutes remained in the first quarter. It happened on Syndi Hill's slick needle-threading feed from the top of the key to Kaydee Weaver inside. Weaver converted to give Clovis a 6-4 edge.

After Santa Fe's Kaya Suina tied it at 6, a Clovis possession that seemed doomed was kept alive by offensive rebounds from Weaver and Mikyla Harkley and ended with a Morris field goal to make it 8-6.

Clovis led the rest of the way.

Still, it was only 12-9 Clovis after the first quarter, and 12-11 Wildcats early in the second because of an Amber Lucero turnaround. But the Lady 'Cats then embarked on a 17-0 run to take control, including in order: an Antanishwa Molett putback, a pair of Harkley free throws, a steal and layup from Morris, a Hill field goal, two more successful foul shots by Harkley, a Morris bucket that rattled in, two free throws from Kidd, and a Kidd trey. When the run was complete, Clovis held a 29-11 lead with less than two minutes to go before halftime.

"The second quarter we came out with a lot of heat," Kidd said. "We wanted to put it on 'em, we wanted to put 'em away."

And they did. By halftime it was 30-13. At the third quarter's end, Clovis led 45-21. A Brittni Chavez trey in the fourth quarter gave the Lady Wildcats a 49-24 lead, their biggest of the night to that point. Their biggest in the game overall was 26 points, when a Kidd free throw at the 2:46 mark made it a 55-29 game.

Now it's on to the next round tonight. Another home game, a chance to be moving on yet again.

"I'm really excited, nervous," Kidd said. "I think we're all feeling that way. It's a really big game."