See you again soon

CLOVIS — Will the real Clovis High girls basketball team please stand up?

Is it the one which shot 2-for-26 from the field in the first half of Friday’s District 4-5A matchup against Roswell High at Rock Staubus Gym? Or is it the one which hit its first five shots, including four 3-pointers, when play resumed in the third quarter.

Down 15-14 at the break, the Lady Wildcats put together a 41-point second half and turned back the Lady Coyotes 55-48 behind a personal-best 22 points from senior guard Annabelle Martinez.

CHS girls coach Jeff Reed’s explanation was simple.

“We pretty much stunk up the first half,” he said. “Then we kind of came alive in the third quarter.”

The Lady Cats (11-15, 3-3 district) had already clinched the No. 3 seed in this week’s 4-5A tournament, and face the same Roswell High squad (7-19, 0-6) in Tuesday’s 6 p.m. tourney opener at The Rock.

Neither side could make a shot early, particularly the Lady Cats — who missed their first 13 attempts before Martinez got a 3 from the left wing to roll around and in with under three minutes to go in the half. She followed that up with a 2-pointer, but that was it and the Lady Coyotes took the lead just before halftime on senior Mackenzie Tarin’s medium-range jumper.

It didn’t take long for the tide to turn, though. Roswell High missed two free throws to start the second half and junior forward Alandra Romero started the Clovis barrage with a 3-pointer from the right wing.

Romero added another 3 in the early surge, and two free throws by senior guard Aydan Everett made it 34-20 with three minutes left in the period.

“It was a good game, a possible preview of what might happen on Tuesday night,” Lady Coyotes coach Fernando Sanchez said. “We were able to work on some things. We had a terrible first four minutes of the third quarter, but Clovis was able to make some shots.”

The lead was at 15 (41-26) with just over six minutes left, but the Lady Coyotes rattled CHS with fullcourt pressure and steadily worked their way back in. They got as close as 49-43 with two minutes loft on Tarin’s 3, but the Lady Cats made just enough free throws down the stretch to keep them at bay.

“I definitely would’ve liked to finish off the game better, but I was proud of how we came out and played well in the second half,” Reed said. “I told the girls, ‘You had spurts where you played fantastic. If we could just do that consistently, we could make a run at it next week (in the tourney).”

Martinez, whose previous high was 21 points in a December win over Belen, scored 15 of her points in the second half, including 10 in the fourth quarter. Junior post Hanna Nussbaumer added 12 points for the Lady Cats, who went 24-for-39 from the free throw line.

Of the six players who scored for Roswell High, only senior guard Jalen Baca made double figures with 10 points, but four others tallied at least eight.

Tickets for Tuesday’s tournament opener are $5 each for general admission at the door, or $10 for reserved seat ticket holders. No passes, including staff IDs and student activity tickets, are valid for district or state tournament games.