Lady Cats squeak into Canyon tourney finals

Staff report

CANYON, Texas — If nothing else, Clovis High’s girls came out of Friday’s play in Canyon High’s Tournament of Champions severely tested.

The Lady Wildcats won a pair of games by a total of three points against teams which started the day 17-1, edging Amarillo Tascosa 55-53 in the morning quarterfinals and turning back the host Lady Eagles 40-39 in Friday night’s semifinal.

CHS (3-0) will face Abilene Wylie, a 38-29 winner in Friday’s other semifinal over Wall, in today’s 11 a.m. (MST) championship game at Canyon High.

Senior guard Danni Williams hit tons of key baskets, scoring 33 points against Tascosa (9-2) and 20 against the previously unbeaten Lady Eagles (8-1) to become the program’s all-time leading scorer with 1,694 points.

Williams surpassed Antiesha Brown (2008-12) with 1,662. She gave Clovis its biggest lead against Canyon at 40-36 with a pair of free throws at the 18-second mark.

Sophomore center Paitlyn Tankersly drew Canyon within a point on a 3-pointer from the corner with five seconds left, but Clovis was able to inbounds the ball deep to Williams and essentially run out the clock.

“It was a tough win,” CHS coach Jeff Reed said. “We got a couple of steals in the fourth quarter that helped get us on top and put us in some control.”

Senior guard Nichele Hyman added 10 points against Canyon as only four Lady Cats scored. The biggest lead of the game was 24-19 early in the third quarter by Canyon.

Sophomore point guard Angel Hayden led the Lady Eagles with 10 points.

Earlier, Williams’ 3-pointer staked CHS to a 26-16 lead in the second quarter, but Tascosa opened the second half on a 9-1 runto take a 31-30 advantage.

The game stayed tight from there. The Lady Rebels led 45-41 in the final period before Williams’ 3-pointer made it tight again.

After Tascosa tied it with 15 seconds left, the Lady Cats got the ball to Williams, who penetrated the paint and dumped the ball to Hyman for what turned into agame-winning, 5-foot bank shot off the right baseline with about five seconds left.

Williams’ total in that one included five 3-pointers. Tascosa’s leading scorers were 6-foot-2 junior post Keira McKinney with 17 points and sophomore guard Markaashia Richardson with 13.

“This was huge for our second and third games of the season,” Reed said. “Tascosa and Canyon would be in contention for a (Class 6A) state championship in New Mexico. I’m very proud of how the girls handled it.”