Lady Cats struggle to score in loss at Mayfield

LAS CRUCES – It wasn’t Las Cruces High this year, but it was the same result.

Since reaching the then-Class 6A semifinals in Danni Williams’ last season at Clovis High in 2015, the Lady Wildcats have made first-round exits in all four of their appearances in the NMAA’s large-school division.

The common denominator? All have come in trips to Las Cruces, the first three against the Lady Bulldawgs, while on Friday night the Lady Cats were ousted by Mayfield 31-28.

“It’s just so frustrating because you have a chance to win a (state) game on the road, but you can’t even score 31 points,” Clovis coach Jeff Reed said. “We definitely had a chance, if we didn’t come out and play so bad in the first half.”

Mind you, the fifth-seeded Lady Trojans (23-5), who lost to CHS 45-29 in a December tournament at Rio Rancho, weren’t exactly lighting it up either. But they did enough on offense to carry a 16-8 advantage into the intermission.

Clovis (20-9), which had only one field goal at halftime, then fell behind 23-8 when Mayfield scored the first seven points of the second half. The Lady Cats then mounted a run which closed the gap to 26-20 on a 3-point basket by freshman guard Gianna Cordova as time was winding down in the third stanza.

Junior guard Amanda De La Rosa’s two free throws pulled CHS to 28-26, and Zarai Lewis added a basket with just over 10 seconds left to keep it a two-point game. Junior forward Lorrena Viarreal’s free throw pushed it back to three points, but Lewis’ potential tying 3-pointer was off the mark as time expired.

“I was proud that the girls fought and gave themselves a chance at the end,” Reed said. “We just couldn’t dig out of that hole.”

Junior guard Jazlene Ruiz and sophomore post Ceanna McKines scored 12 points each for the Lady Trojans and combined for all but one of their 11 field goals.

De La Rosa went 5-for-5 from the line en route to a team-high seven points for the Lady Cats.

Mayfield will face fourth-seeded Volcano Vista (22-5) in a 9:45 a.m. quarterfinal matchup on Tuesday at The Pit in Albuquerque. The Hawks routed Rio Rancho Cleveland 75-47 in their first-round encounter on Friday night.