Cats, Lady Cats set to open seasons

Clovis High’s basketball teams are gearing up for the start of the 2024-25 basketball season this week, both featuring many new faces on their rosters.

The boys play at home on Tuesday against Albuquerque-based Atrisco Heritage at The Rock, then visit Rio Rancho on Saturday afternoon. Meantime, the Lady Wildcats’ opener is set for Saturday afternoon at Valencia.

Boys – Corey Pickett, who has spent 11 years as an assistant coach in the Wildcats’ program, takes over a team this season which was 20-9 overall and 4-2 in District 4-5A last year under Josh Mattox.

CHS returns only one fulltime starter in senior guard Jayden Cox, who averaged 11.3 ppg last season. Meantime, senior guards Kalil Torres-Pierre and Johnny Saiz and junior guard Johnny Molina all had starts and saw regular duty.

That’s it for returnees. Still, Pickett said the Cats can be competitive.

“I think we’ve got a pretty decent team,” he said. “We’re pretty young and we play hard, but we need some work.”

Six-foot-5 sophomore center/forward Michael Clinton is easily the team’s tallest player. The Cats are going to have to play a perimeter-oriented game and find some scorers.

“During the summer, we had nothing in place,” Pickett said. “All we did was play, but we held our own. We probably won half our games, or a little more.”

One thing they didn’t do that well in the summer work was shoot. Pickett said that area of their game looks like it’s getting better.

“We have about four guys that, if you leave them open, they can make a shot,” he said.

Cox wasn’t necessarily the team’s No. 1 option last season, but he probably will be this season.

“He plays defense, he’s long, he can shoot it and he has a motor,” Pickett said. “Johnny Molina has come around from last year.”

He said junior guard Luke Carpenter has gone from a junior varsity sub last season to possibly a “major player” this time around. “He has a chance to start,” Pickett said.

The new coach said his team will hang its hat on its ability to stop opponents, and expects to play a lot of man-to-man.

“I’m all about defense,” Pickett said. “I’ve told them that if you can’t play defense, you can’t play. You can’t depend on 16 and 17-year-olds to make shots every night.”

Of the district he said: “Roswell (High’s) pretty good, and Hobbs has a 7-footer, but I think it’s promising. We should win some games.”

Girls – The Lady Cats are coming off back-to-back 20-9 (2-4 district) campaigns. They’ve gone 58-29 over the past three seasons and qualified for the 5A state meet each time, only to be turned back on the road in the first round.

Three losses to Carlsbad – by a combined eight points – kept Clovis from probably earning a first-round home game in 2023-24. But the girls are in a bit of a rebuilding mode with leading scorers Zarai Lewis (16.0 ppg) and Kailyn Jefferson (12.1), among others, lost to graduation.

“We’re going to have to have people step up to replace them,” 17th-year coach Jeff Reed said.

Sophomore guard Gianna Cordova (6.8 ppg) is the top returning scorer. She is slated to start, Reed said, along with senior guard Amanda De La Rosa, senior post Katy Archey, sophomore post Kerrington Goff and either Brynn Petner or Mariana Villezcas, both junior guards.

De La Rosa (5.4 ppg) was a regular starter last season. Junior guard Andrea Chavez could also help, Reed said.

The 5-11 Goff and the 5-10 Archey are the team’s tallest players.

“We were small last year, and we’re smaller this year,” Reed said. “Hopefully, we can rely on the two big girls and rely on our speed and quickness.”

He said the Lady Cats played well during the summer.

“That was a pleasant surprise,” he said. “I think they met or maybe exceeded expectations.

“I think we can surprise some teams, but it’s not going to be easy.”

District rivals Roswell High, Hobbs and Carlsbad all figure to be challenging opponents.

“Our district’s going to be brutal,” Reed said. “Hobbs brings everyone back, Carlsbad lost no significant players off last year’s team and Roswell lost one.”