CHS GIRLS BASKETBALL: Lady Cats gear up for rematch with Alamo

The last time Clovis High’s girls faced Alamogordo — only a couple of weeks ago — Lady Wildcats coach Miles Watters earned his 500th win as a high school girls basketball coach.

Today, Watters would settle for just another victory.

CHS hosts the Lady Tigers in a 4:30 p.m. matchup today at Rock Staubus Gym.

“They’re one of those teams, kind of like us, that are struggling to find their identity,” Watters said. “But they really play hard and get after you.”

The Lady Tigers (7-8) have played only once since finishing fourth in CHS’ Plateau Holiday Classic. They lost Tuesday at Roswell Goddard 60-47.

Meantime, Clovis (8-5) will be trying to shake a two-game losing streak since hosting and winning the Plateau Holiday Classic, although neither was anything to be ashamed of — the Lady Cats dropped road games against Class 5A power Mayfield 59-46 and, on Tuesday, at Texas Class 3A power Canyon 51-30.

“Those are two of the best teams we’ll play all season,” Watters said. “Canyon is probably by far the best team we’ll play. Canyon has guards who can shoot, and they’ve got a nice post game, too.”

Clovis won the earlier meeting with Alamo 55-43 on Dec. 29 as junior guard Ebony Bunton combined 20 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Alamo kept the game close for a half, but the Lady Cats opened the third period with a 9-0 run to take control.

Junior guard Ashley Jelly led the Lady Tigers with 13 points. Clovis shot just 29 percent in the first half, but went 13-of-21 from the field in the final two stanzas.

Watters said the Lady Cats know they need to play well on defense against most teams.

“I think we’ve kind of slacked up a little defensively (of late),” he said. “If anything, we’d like to have a team identity that we can get out and play hard at the defensive end.

“We’re not going to put up huge numbers. We’ve just got to play solid for four quarters. We’re looking for a little more consistency as far as scoring goes and on defense.”