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CLOVIS — The Clovis and Portales girls take pride in their defense. Tuesday night, it was obvious they had each other frustrated for a while.
Clovis managed just enough offense early, though, to build a cushion and the Lady Wildcats went on to a 49-39 victory at Rock Staubus Gym.
The Lady Cats (13-4) shut down Portales in the first half, but struggled in their own right and led just 16-6 at the break. Then, when Portales warmed up, so did Clovis and the Lady Rams (8-8) were unable to catch up.
“We got some really easy looks early that we couldn’t knock down, so we dug ourselves a hole,” PHS coach Clay Stout said. “We had a hard time getting in sync.”
After going 2-for-17 from the field in the first half, the Lady Rams pulled to within 19-17 midway through the third quarter with 10 points in a span of less than two minutes, capped by consecutive 3-pointers from senior guard Tara Johnson. The Lady Cats, though, scored the next nine points and never relinquished control.
CHS coach Jeff Reed, too, was a bit frustrated.
“We had great looks underneath (early),” he said. “If we could’ve gotten them to fall, it could’ve been a different game.
“Going against their (halfcourt) defense is tough. We wanted to be able to get some (scoring) opportunities in transition.”
Junior Antiesha Brown, coming off a career-best 29-point outing on Saturday in a win over Alamogordo, finished with 13 points — 10 in the second half — and a game-high nine rebounds. Meantime, senior guard Brittany Johnson hit two first-half 3-pointers and finished with 11 points.
“Coach Reed will probably tell you we didn’t come out right in practice yesterday,” said senior guard Leia Willis, who forced a number of Portales’ 23 turnovers. “I think our defense saved us tonight. That eventually helped us get our offense going.”
The Lady Rams trailed 10-2 midway through the second quarter. Then freshman forward Macy Mitchell, who led Portales with 13 points and eight rebounds, made the front end of a 1-and-1 and added a three-point play to cut the margin to four, but 3-pointers by junior Amanda Romero and Brittany Johnson in the final two minutes pushed the lead into double figures at halftime.
“We got back within two (in the third quarter) and then we had two turnovers,” Stout said. “When you fight that hard to get back in the game, you can’t give them the momentum back.”
The pace picked up in the final period as Clovis outscoring the Lady Rams 21-20.
Tara Johnson also reached double figures for Portales with 11 points. Both teams went 13-for-17 from the foul line, with PHS netting 10-of-12 and the Lady Cats 8-of-9 in the final stanza.
Tuesday
Clovis 49, Portales 39
Portales (8-8) — Tara Johnson 4-11 1-2 11, Jenna Wagner 0-2 2-2 2, Ashley Hernandez 0-4 4-4 4, Tayler Lucero 0-0 0-0 0, Amber McCasland 1-3 0-0 2, Alexis Orcutt 0-1 0-0 0, Gabby Garcia 1-3 0-0 2, Dallas Russell 2-7 1-2 5, Macy Mitchell 4-8 5-7 13. Totals 12-39 13-17 39.
Clovis (13-4) — Leia Willis 2-7 2-2 6, Jadee Isler 3-7 0-0 7, Antiesha Brown 3-9 7-8 13, Ashlee Pierson 4-10 1-3 9, Brittany Johnson 3-5 3-4 11, Amanda Romero 1-4 0-0 3, Tiffany Nichols 0-1 0-0 0, Natasha Beachum 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 16-44 13-17 49.
Portales 2 4 13 20 — 39
Clovis 7 9 12 21 — 49
3-pointers — Portales 2-7 (T. Johnson 2-3, Hernandez 0-2, Russell 0-2), Clovis 4-11 (B. Johnson 2-2, Isler 1-4, Romero 1-4, Willis 0-1). Rebounds — Portales 28 (Mitchell 8), Clovis 25 (Brown 9). Assists — Portales 5 (Garcia, Russell 2), Clovis 8 (Willis 3). Total fouls — Portales 12, Clovis 19. Fouled out — none. Junior varsity — Clovis 56, Portales 30.
