Clovis girls grab Saturday win over Lovington

CLOVIS — A high school basketball season is a slog, a long march toward what each team hopes is a state-playoff destination.

Clovis’ girls basketball team continued its march on Saturday night with a victory over Lovington at Rock Staubus Gymnasium. The Lady Wildcats were able to transform a tie game at halftime into a 47-39 victory, which was huge because the outcome left them still four games under .500 with the regular season more than half over. Every win is huge for them from now on.

“It was ugly, but I’ll take an ugly win any day of the week at this point in the season. It was a good win for us,” Clovis head coach Jeff Reed said. “We really have to get going on a roll. … Games like this, if we lose them, our playoff chances are just fading and fading and fading. Winning tonight helps that opportunity.”

Senior guard Annabelle Martinez contributed to Clovis getting a little second-half separation, scoring 15 of her game-high 19 points over those last two quarters, 11 in the fourth.

“It was a big win,” Martinez said. “We needed it.”

The game was locked in a 22-all tie at halftime. Well into the third quarter Clovis was only up 27-25.

The Lady Wildcats missed opportunities to increase their lead until finally with 2:44 remaining in the third quarter, Aydan Everett scored to make it a four-point game.

Martinez pulled up for a jumper with roughly two minutes to go in the third, putting Clovis ahead 31-25, and she hit a layup with about a minute left in the period to stretch her team’s lead to eight.

The Lady Wildcats took that 33-25 advantage into the fourth quarter, and after Lovington’s Danika Galindo flipped in a shot, Clovis notched five straight points in the form of a Martinez left-elbow trey and a pair of Hanna Nussbaumer foul shots, increasing the team’s lead to 38-27.

Reed said the Lady Wildcats were able to capitalize on some Lovington misfortune.

“No. 4 (senior Riley Mapes) is their best player and their leading scorer. She got four fouls,” Reed said. “That’s when we were able to get the cushion. And we had to have every bit of it because when she came back in the game they clawed back into it.”

Starting with two Mapes free throws that closed Lovington within 38-31 at the fourth quarter’s 2:56 mark. Then after Martinez hit a pair of foul shots for Clovis eight seconds later, Mapes knocked down a left-elbow three on Lovington’s ensuing possession, bringing her team within 40-34.

“If 4 would’ve been in the game the whole entire game it might’ve been a little different story,” Reed said. “So I’m glad she got in that foul trouble because it sure helped us out.”

Clovis’ next trip down the floor ended with two more Martinez free throws, this time with 2:26 left. Lovington answered right back with a one-handed driving basket from Malena Espinosa to climb back within six again, and though Martinez hit two more foul shots for Clovis with 1:57 remaining, Lovington wasn’t done.

The score remained 44-36 until 40 seconds were left, when Lovington’s Hayley Marquez hit a trey from the right elbow, making it a five-point contest.

The Lady Wildcats, though, closed it out from the line, with another free throw from Nussbaumer and another two from Martinez.

Martinez said that she and all her teammates had the same idea during the fourth quarter.

“Keep working,” she said, “keep our composure. And play good defense.”

Clovis salted away a victory just 10 days before District 4-5A play was scheduled to begin.

“Our level has got to step up,” Reed said. “In the next two weeks it’s got to go way up.”