Clovis Christian girls win in 6-1A opener

CLOVIS — For Clovis Christian’s girls basketball team, it’s been a journey.

The program has grown, evolved, in recent years. So Monday’s 59-47 home victory over Grady/San Jon/House in the first round of the District 6-1A postseason tournament was a prize for the Lady Eagles, an achievement they’ll cherish. No matter how they fared in Tuesday night’s second-round game at Fort Sumner, the Eagles are proud of being able to move up on the district ladder.

“That is super awesome,” Clovis Christian junior forward Lola De Groot said after putting up some ‘super awesome’ numbers – 15 points, 19 rebounds, eight blocks and three assists. “It’s been a long time since we’ve been here and had the ability to even compete.”

“I find it really exciting that we’re winning the first round of district and getting on a winning streak,” Lady Eagles junior forward Makayla Robinson said after scoring a team-high 22 points to go with five rebounds.

“It’s a good feeling,” Clovis Christian head coach Kenny Duong said. “It’s something our school definitely hasn’t had in a long time. We’ve secured at least a positive record this year, which we haven’t done in 11 years, so that’s a big step for our team. And especially with our district, it’s so tough, to get one district win in the tournament felt good.”

Clovis Christian won its benchmark 15th game of the season, improving to 15-11 overall. Impressive, considering the Lady Eagles were only 2-6 in regular-season district play.

For Grady/San Jon/House, who had finished 0-8 in regular-season district games and fell to 6-17 overall with Monday’s loss, it’s been a process.

“This year we’re just trying to rebuild and learn basketball,” Grady/San Jon/House head coach Alicia Rush said. “We’ve got a lot of gaps, and we’re trying to fill in some of those gaps with some basketball knowledge. We’re building for the future; we knew it would be hard this year.”

Clovis Christian jumped out quickly Monday night, already leading by double digits (17-7) by the end of the first quarter. Robinson scored 9 of those 17 points, but says the early lead was about more than just her.

“Working as a team,” she said. “Working cohesively, and just making our open shots.”

Duong was pleased with how strong his team began the game.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” he said, “because we just played Friday against Melrose. And I gave them the weekend off, like, ‘Do what you want to do. Relax. Just don’t get hurt.’ And (Monday) they were relaxed the whole pre-game, they were just having fun, they weren’t too worried about anything. And they just went out and played under control. They came out with intensity.”

“I think they shot incredibly well and we didn’t,” Rush said. “I can’t take anything away from their shooting; they made a lot of shots. We did OK, but we just didn’t respond quick enough.”

It was a more competitive and high-scoring second quarter, with Clovis Christian outscoring Grady only 19-16 over the eight-minute span. But that, with the Lady Eagles’ first-quarter lead, had them up 36-23 by halftime.

Clovis Christian stretched its lead to 49-31 by the end of the third quarter and stayed dominant in the fourth. A three-point basket from De Groot had the Lady Eagles rolling early in the final period, and they stayed in command for the remainder of the game.

“I think that all of us girls are ready to win,” De Groot said. “It’s been difficult facing Melrose and Fort Sumner and Logan, and we were all ready to beat Grady and move on to the next round.”

Grady did keep fighting, though. It was a 57-38 Clovis Christian advantage late in the fourth quarter, but Grady had narrowed it to 59-45 by the time there was a little over a minute to go, and soon had the ball back after a Lady Eagles travel at the 1:08 mark.

Grady didn’t score on that ensuing possession, but did get it down to 59-47 on a Teryn Foote putback — two of her team-high 22 points — with under 20 seconds left.

“They don’t ever quit,” Rush said. “That’s something about this group — they’re fun to coach and they don’t ever quit.”

For Clovis Christian, Monday’s victory could be considered the cornerstone of a solid season. Duong says the Lady Eagles’ success has been largely due to thinking for themselves when necessary.

“Just being basketball players,” Duong said. “In the past it’s kind of been like, they were trying to focus on plays and doing exactly what the coach said instead of just playing basketball and making decisions on their own. They tried to follow a script exactly instead of playing free-form.”

But lately, the Lady Eagles have had the confidence to take the shot when it’s there, drive the lane when it’s open.

“I think that’s been a big difference,” Duong said.