Lady Cats topple Taos

CLOVIS - Heading into Monday's quarterfinal matchup of the Plateau Holiday tournament at Rock Staubus Gym, Clovis High girls coach Jeff Reed claimed he was nervous.

As it turned out, there was little to worry about. The Lady Wildcats held Taos to seven first-half points and were never threatened in a 42-21 victory over the Lady Tigers.

Clovis (8-3) advanced to Tuesday's championship semifinals against Atrisco Heritage, while Taos faced Los Lunas in the consolation semifinals.

Senior guard Yvonne Fuerte scored 14 points and sophomore guard Zarai Lewis added 11. They each had two of the game's four 3-pointers.

CHS led 9-4 at the quarter and never allowed the Lady Tigers (3-4) to score more than eight points in any period.

"We had a good game plan, and it worked," Reed said. "Defensively, we did a good job. We knew they couldn't shoot 3s.

Reed said Kionamua Ely, a 6-foot-3 sophomore post, was the focal point of the defense, adding that sophomore Paige Harris had the main responsibility for her. He said Ely, who shared team honors with senior Dahnyell Martinez on Monday with seven points, had a 21-point outing earlier against Gallup.

"The team did a good job on her," Reed said. "Paige had to handle her all night and did a good job of being physical with her.

"We knew they were capable of a run. I wasn't comfortable with the lead until about four minutes left, but it was awesome to be in control at the end."

Organ Mountain 62, CHS boys 47 - In the recently-renamed, six-team L & L Pallett Holiday tournament, the still-winless Wildcats continued to scuffle and suffered their second loss of the season to the Las Cruces-based Knights (3-7).

Clovis (0-8) stayed close in the first quarter, reaching the bonus late in the period and hitting 5-of-6 free throws while committing no fouls. But Organ Mountain dominated the second stanza 18-7, capped by a buzzer-beating 3-pointers from freshman forward Ray Venegas, for a 35-21 lead at the break.

"We just dug ourselves too big of a hole," Cats coach Jaden Isler said. "Our effort was much better in the second half, but a lot of things have to go your way to dig out of that deep a hole."

CHS pulled to within 10 with just under two minutes left, but the Knights finished the contest on a 6-1 run.

Brandon Kehres, a 6-foot-5 sophomore forward, scored 15 points for Organ Mountain while Venegas had 11. The Knights dominated the boards throughout.

"Our defensive rebounding struggled," Isler said. "They got a lot of second chances."

Junior guard Brian Weiss was the Cats' lone double-figure scorer, finishing with two 3-pointers and 15 points.

Clovis was slated to return to action on Tuesday against the loser of an early semifinal matchup between Atrisco Heritage and Los Lunas.