Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Clovis High senior guard Zarai Lewis is sandwiched between Hobbs defenders Bhret Clay (14) and Aliana Armitage during Friday's District 4-5A girls tilt at Rock Staubus Gym. The Lady Eagles posted a 72-42 win over Clovis.
Clovis High's girls started off well against Hobbs on Friday night, and the Lady Wildcats had another good stretch which spanned the third and fourth quarters.
The rest of the way, it was all Lady Eagles as they cruised to a 72-42 victory in a District 4-5A matchup at Rock Staubus Gym.
No doubt, the Lady Cats played hard, but at 17-5 (0-2 district) they've put themselves in a bit of a hole with the next three of four remaining regular-season contests on the road.
"We've got to be Roswell (High) and Carlsbad, for sure," CHS coach Jeff Reed said. "We still have a lot of things we're playing for, and we can still accomplish our goal of playing in The Pit at Albuquerque (over the final three rounds of 5A state competition next month)."
It would appear that most teams will have trouble matching up with Class 5A No. 3 Hobbs (19-3, 2-0), which has a plethora of scoring weapons. On top of that, the three-time defending state runnerup Lady Eagles have no seniors on their 14-player roster.
Hobbs, which has lost at Lubbock Monterey, at La Cueva and at 5A No 1 Farmington by a combined 10 points, had eight 3-pointers (to one for the Lady Cats), went 12-of-17 from the foul line and harassed Clovis into 26 turnovers. Only four players scored for CHS, and three accounted for all but one point – senior post Kailyn Jefferson (19), senior guard Zarai Lewis (12) and sophomore guard Brynn Petner (10).
Petner delivered a little spark for the Lady Cats in the third quarter, when she scored eight of her points and helped the team avoid a running clock except for a few seconds. Clovis cut its brief 35-point deficit to 23 at one point with a 9-0 run, but Hobbs finished the game on a 12-5 surge.
"The object at halftime was to keep fighting," Reed said. "We showed a little bit of resolve in the second half."
Hobbs went eight deep most of the way and got 25 points from its bench, including 12 from freshman guard Kacelyn Muniez and 11 from sophomore guard Aliana Armitage.
"Clovis has a lot of pride on their home floor," Lady Eagles coach Joe Carpenter said. "We knew they were going to make some kind of a run. We didn't want to use a timeout (during that time). I wanted my kids to work through it."
The Lady Cats begin their road stretch on Friday at Roswell High (11-10, 1-1), which won 41-38 at Carlsbad (13-9, 1-1) on Friday night.
Carlsbad 37, Clovis 35 (Tuesday) – The Lady Cats got their district slate off to a rough start as the Cavegirls held them to just one second-quarter point in opening a nine-point halftime advantage.
Junior forward/post Jasmynn Gonzales funneled in 12 points for Carlsbad while junior guard Abby Dugan overcame early foul trouble to finish with 10.
After leading 13-8 at the quarter, the Lady Cats went into halftime down 23-14. They finally overtook the Cavegirls 35-33 with about a minute left, but a back-door layup by Gonzales and two free throws by Dugan, also coming off a back-door play with about 10 seconds to go, put Carlsbad in front for good.
"It should've never gotten to that point," Reed said. "We just killed ourselves all night."
Carlsbad held Lewis, the Lady Cats' leading scorer, without a single point. Jefferson paced Clovis with 13 points while freshman guard Gianna Cordova finished with a pair of 3-pointers and 11 tallies.
