Lady Cats suffer first loss in semifinals

RIO RANCHO – Clovis High’s girls were beaten on Friday night in the semifinals of the Mel Otero Invitational, primarily by one of the best high school girls players CHS coach Jeff Reed says he has ever seen.

Junior guard Bella Hines scored 33 points as Eldorado turned back the Lady Wildcats 63-51. Clovis (5-1) was slated to face host Rio Rancho for third place on Saturday.

“We got in a hole early,” Reed said. “We had opportunities to score, but we didn’t. Give them credit; some of their other girls made some shots to help them.”

Hines, who had six of the Eagles’ 10 3-point baskets, scored 23 of her points in the opening half as Eldorado (5-1) streaked to a 34-18 cushion. Reed employed a box-and-one with senior Kailyn Jefferson on her in the final stanza, and she limited Hines to two points.

“We didn’t do a good job containing her,” Reed said. “To try to do that on the fly is hard to do with a one-day turnaround.”

Senior guard Zarai Lewis shot 11-for-12 from the foul line and finished with 22 points for Clovis. Jefferson, who was on the bench after picking up two early fouls, came back to finish with 16.

The Lady Cats return to action on Wednesday at Rock Staubus Gym in the eight-team Plateau Holiday tournament. Clovis takes on Miyamura at 5:50 p.m. in the last of four quarterfinal tilts.

Clovis 45, Mayfield 29 (Thursday, quarterfinals) – In a battle of unbeatens, the Lady Cats put the game out of reach with a 17-7 fourth-quarter surge.

Lewis had a pair of 3-balls and scored 10 of her game-high 15 points in the opening canto as the Lady Cats built a 13-5 lead. But Mayfield (3-1) played them evenly over the next two frames to stay in the tilt.

“We had a decent start, but we sort of fell apart in the middle,” Reed said. “We weren’t running our offense or taking good shots.

“Mayfield had a great game plan. They tried to make the game ugly, and we weren’t really able to get our press going until the fourth quarter.”

Junior Jazlee Ruiz scored 11 points for Mayfield.