Lady Cats cruise past Texico, Artesia

CLOVIS — Clovis High girls coach Jeff Reed knows the schedule will get tougher, but for now the Lady Wildcats are enjoying some early success.

On Thursday night, 11 Lady Cats scored as Clovis opened a 12-2 lead at the quarter and cruised past Artesia 61-33 at The Rock.

“We missed a lot of opportunities (early),” Reed said. “We were able to turn them over a lot, but we didn’t always capitalize on them.”

Still, CHS was never threatened by the Lady Bulldogs (1-3), who in addition to turnover woes missed 16 free throw attempts. Meantime, Clovis made some progress in that area, shooting 11-for-16.

Senior post Hannah Nussbaumer led the Lady Cats (3-1) with 11 points, while senior guard Danielle Acuna and sophomore post Allyson Thomas had 10 apiece.

“The girls played good,” Reed acknowledged. “We played pretty good defense, and I liked the balanced scoring.”

Senior forward Kaylee Wagner was Artesia’s lone double-digit scorer, finishing with 13 points.

Clovis 55, Texico 14 (Tuesday) — The Lady Cats quickly overwhelmed the Lady Wolverines at Texico, dominating each quarter en route to their second win in three outings.

Despite a 25-8 halftime lead, Reed said he thought it could’ve been even more.

“I felt like we left a lot of points out there,” he said. “We heated up a little in the fourth quarter, but I think we’ll have to do that a little faster in some of these games.”

Only Nussbaumer, with 11 points, reached double digits for the Lady Cats, but nine others contributed to the scoring column. The top scorer for Texico, playing the second of three games in four nights to open its season, was freshman guard Kara New with two 3-pointers and eight points.