La Cueva cruises past Clovis girls

ALBUQUERQUE — A weeklong run through the District 2-6A tournament was not in the cards for the Clovis Wildcats.

A cold-shooting Wildcat squad was buried in the first half, and couldn't do much after halftime in a 62-43 loss Friday night at La Cueva.

The second-seeded Bears (15-11), led by Brooke Nelson's 27 points, move on to Saturday's 5:30 p.m. title game at Eldorado.

Friday's contest was a situation where a win definitely would have helped the Wildcats (17-12), probably more than the loss will hurt when the 16-team Class 6A field is revealed Sunday night.

A district championship game appearance would have been big for the Wildcats, but Clovis coach Jeff Reed is figuring either the No. 12 or 13 seed and a game at Las Cruces or Carlsbad.

Reed said the Cats' difficulty scoring was a big factor, along with a foul discrepancy throughout.

"We come out with five points (in the first quarter)," Reed said. "Held them to seven, but we couldn't score. Second quarter, they heated up and we didn't. We've gotta score some points.

"I hate to blame officials, but they took us out all night. It was difficult, our fouls to their fouls. Second half, I bet the first five possessions they called a foul on us. But I've told my girls tons of times we can't put ourselves in that situation."

Teya Morris scored 15 to lead the Wildcats, while junior Antanishwa Molett scored all 10 of her points in the second half.

The Bears, who had no double-figure scorers outside of Nelson but three with at least eight, led 29-16 at halftime.

Clovis had taken a pair of tournament games Tuesday and Wednesday at the friendly confines of Rock Staubus Gymnasium, but Friday night was different territory against the well-rested Bears.

"There were moments we competed, but we didn't compete for a full game," Reed said. "Part of that might have been two games earlier this week, and having to come up here on a bus."