Brown, Lady Cats wear down Hobbs

HOBBS — Clovis High girls coach Jeff Reed thought the Lady Wildcats would need someone to take the pressure off scoring leaders Antiesha Brown and Ashlee Pierson.

Brown, though, had other ideas.

The 5-foot-9 senior post, who has scored 35 points in a game three times this season, put up 32 on Friday as the Lady Wildcats overcame a sluggish start for a 48-33 District 4-5A victory.

Hobbs (12-8, 0-2 district) led 11-9 at the end of the first quarter, but had no answer for Brown, who kept the Lady Cats (16-4, 1-0) close with seven first-quarter points and finished it off with 12 points in the final period.

“Antiesha Brown did a good job tonight,” Reed said. “She was able to take it to the hole (basket) a lot.”

Pierson finished with nine points. Only two other players scored for Clovis, which hosts Roswell High in a 7 p.m. makeup today at Rock Staubus Gym.

Senior post Jayde Burrell and junior guard Summer Patterson accounted for most of the offense for the Lady Eagles with 14 points apiece. But the loss puts Hobbs, which dropped a 32-29 decision Tuesday at Carlsbad, into a significant hole in district play.

If Clovis can win its next two district games — both against Carlsbad — the Lady Cats will wrap up another district regular-season championship and host the district tournament championship game, probably Feb. 27.

Reed admitted a bit of concern early on.

“The first quarter was tough,” he said. “We didn’t do a very good job on offense, but the offense and the defense picked up after that.”

Brown keyed a 16-10 run in the final period that broke open a nine-point game. The Lady Eagles, 1-for-4 from the free-throw line through three quarters, went 8-of-13 in the final period.

Reed said the Lady Cats’ pressure began to take a toll late.

“We went to a different press in the second half,” he said. “They had handled our pressure to that point, but (the different press) really flustered them.”