Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
RIO RANCHO – After sustaining their first loss of the season in Friday’s semifinals, Clovis High’s girls came back to defeat host Rio Rancho 58-52 on Saturday for third place in the Mel Otero Invitational.
The Lady Wildcats (6-1) fired out to a 21-10 lead at the quarter and held off a late rally which saw the Rams (7-2) pull to within four points in the final stanza.
“It was a good win for us,” CHS girls coach Jeff Reed said. “They’re a good team. We had two wins this weekend over teams that will definitely be in contention for the top eight (in the Class 5A playoffs in March).”
Senior guard Zarai Lewis scored a season-best 25 points for the Lady Cats, who never trailed. Senior post Kailyn Jefferson added 12 points.
For the Rams, who were beaten by eventual champion Sandia (8-0) 77-64 in Friday’s semifinals, Madi Martinez tallied 23 points.
“We had a great first quarter,” Reed said. “We came out on fire, and we were in control for most of the game.”
In other final-round games, Sandia topped Eldorado 64-50 in the title tilt, while Mayfield edged Centennial 36-32 for fifth place and Las Vegas Robertson routed Santa Fe High 49-18 for seventh.
The Lady Cats now turn their attention to this week’s eight-team Plateau Holiday tournament at Rock Staubus Gym. Clovis faces Miyamura in a 5:50 p.m. quarterfinal match today, and will play in that time slot for all three days of the event.
CHS boys 67, Cibola 46 – The Wildcats also had a dominant first quarter in the third-place game of Albuquerque Academy’s Joe Armijo Invitational, getting scoring from eight players in rolling to a 24-8 advantage over the Cougars (1-5).
Five players notched at least eight points for Clovis (5-2), led by a personal-best 13 points from sophomore forward Johnny Molina and 12 each from senior forward Champ Gooden and senior center Marvin Cox.
Clovis connected on seven 3-point baskets in the contest, including two each for senior guard Keilyn Parker and brothers Marvin and Jayden Cox.
The Cats were never seriously threatened after the opening stanza. They put the game out of reach with a 19-13 margin in the final frame, led by seven points from Gooden and six from Molina.
In other final-round action, Organ Mountain took the title with a 66-61 win over the host Chargers, Highland thumped Las Cruces High 75-46 for fifth place and Hope Christian routed Roswell Goddard 69-33 for seventh.
Clovis returns to The Rock for its six-team Holiday Classic this week. Each squad will face three of the other five, with the Cats playing Silver tonight, Navajo Prep on Thursday and La Cueva on Friday, all in 7:30 p.m. starts.
