Lady 'Cats win district tournament opener

CLOVIS — Clovis girls basketball coach Jeff Reed has worn some sullen expressions this winter. A ‘can’t-anyone-hit-a-field-goal’ scowl here, a ‘can’t-anyone-sink-free-throws’ frown there.

Tuesday night, though, it was smiles aplenty for Reed after he watched his team play dominant basketball wire-to-wire and clobber Roswell 57-24 in the opening round of District 4-5A tournament play.

By scoring the game’s first 12 points, the Lady Wildcats took control early. And they’d never let it go, rolling over a Roswell team they had swept during the regular season.

“We didn’t give ’em a chance and that was fantastic,” Reed said. “Sometimes when you play a team three times it’s hard, but I think it actually benefitted us to play ’em three times and have to beat ’em three times. We knew ’em so well, and this time we were able to just really shut down everything they wanted to do.”

“I think we did a very good job,” said Clovis senior guard/post Kaydee Weaver, who tossed in a game-high 14 points and was the only player on either team to score in double digits. “We played as a team, worked the ball around, and had a lot of energy and enthusiasm tonight.”

The Lady Wildcats came out with a flurry, building that 12-0 lead to quickly put their stamp on the game. Makenzie Tarin scored to finally get Roswell on the board with almost six minutes gone by in the first quarter. But Clovis scored the next three points to carry a 15-2 advantage into the second period.

It was just the kind of start Reed had hoped for prior to tip off.

“I told the girls, ‘Don’t even let ’em get off the bus. Let’s put ’em away right at the beginning of the game,’” Reed said. “15-2, it was over.”

Weaver kept it going in the second quarter, scoring the period’s first points with a basket that gave Clovis a 17-2 lead. Aydan Everett then came up with a steal, creating a possession that ended with a pair of Madison Tolbert foul shots, handing the Lady ’Cats a 19-2 advantage at the 5:43 mark of the second.

Clovis’ first 20-plus-point difference (38-17) came late in the third quarter on a three-point play completed by Weaver at the foul line. She began the fourth with another three-point play, this one making it a 41-17 game.

The Lady Wildcats’ first 30-point edge was provided by junior post Alexis Garcia’s bucket that put Clovis up 52-22 late in the fourth.

Soon, the Lady ’Cats had earned their spot in Thursday’s district semifinal at Carlsbad.

“The problem is, we’re going to be playing against a 2-3 zone,” Reed said, “and they’re very tough to score against.”

“I think we can beat them,” Weaver said. “It’s going to be a lot harder than Roswell, but we can do it if we play like we did tonight.”