Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
HOBBS – The week started off with another tough, narrow loss to Carlsbad. It certainly didn’t get any better for Clovis High’s girls on Friday night.
A trio of 3-pointers kept the Lady Wildcats in some shouting distance of Class 5A No. 2 Hobbs, but they got only two field goals and two free throws after that in a 59-15 District 4-5A loss to the Lady Eagles.
The Lady Cats (18-7, 1-4 district) have played a number of quality teams competitively this season. Not Hobbs, though, which won the two regular-season matchups by a combined score of 131-57.
“It was pretty brutal,” said Lady Cats coach Jeff Reed, whose team was ranked eighth in 5A this week by MaxPreps. “We had too many turnovers. We just didn’t handle the ball, and you can’t give up turnovers and second shots to a team like that.”
Junior guard Nakia Mojica paced the Lady Eagles (22-3, 5-0) with 18 points while junior forward Kyndle Cunningham added 14. Senior guard Zarai Lewis had six points for Clovis.
Now tied for third with Roswell High in the four-team district, the Lady Cats finish the regular campaign on Friday in a 7 p.m. tipoff against the Lady Coyotes (11-13, 1-4) at Rock Staubus Gym.
Carlsbad 44, Clovis 43 (Tuesday) – The Lady Cats let one get away against Carlsbad for the second time. They erased a 10-point halftime deficit to lead 40-39 with less than two minutes remaining, but the Cavegirls converted 5-of-6 free throws from there and held on to hand Clovis its first true road loss (8-1).
Lewis’ 3-pointer with eight seconds left pulled Clovis to within a point. After two missed free throws by Carlsbad, CHS had a chance to bail it out in the closing seconds, but freshman guard Gianna Cordova’s 3 as time expired was off the mark.
Carlsbad beat Clovis 37-35 in the first meeting at The Rock.
“We shot ourselves in the foot all night long,” Reed said. “We did a good job of fighting back and giving ourselves a chance. It was just little things that killed us all night.”
Junior guard Abby Dugan scored 16 points for Carlsbad (15-10, 3-2 after beating Roswell High 42-35 on Friday), while junior center/forward Jasmynn Gonzales added 13. Lewis led everyone with 24 points for the Lady Cats.
