Lady Cats thump Mayfield
Unlike their meetings of the past two seasons, Saturday’s Clovis High-Mayfield girls contest did not go down to the wire.
The Lady Wildcats rode their 1-2 punch of senior Antiesha Brown (22 points) and junior Ashlee Pierson (17) to a 63-51 victory over the Trojans at Rock Staubus Gym.
Mayfield won at The Rock 52-51 two years ago; Clovis returned the favor 42-41 last year in Las Cruces.
The most glaring difference between the teams was Mayfield’s lack of a consistent scoring threat. Meantime, Brown and Pierson were able to get to the basket with regularity.
“We had too many turnovers (32) and too many missed free throws,” veteran Mayfield coach George Maya said. “We just couldn’t keep Antiesha off the glass and out of the middle; she’s just very athletic.”
Pierson carried the Lady Cats (9-2) in the first quarter, helping force Mayfield into eight turnovers with three steals while also chipping in seven points and two assists.
Brown’s 3-pointer from the wing early in the second period started a 13-5 run that gave Clovis an 11-point lead late in the half. Then, after a relatively even third quarter, Pierson had a steal and layup and a 3-pointer in the first two minutes of the final period as the Lady Cats opened a 22-point lead with three minutes left.
“She did a great job,” Lady Cats coach Jeff Reed said of Pierson. “She struggled a little bit with foul trouble, but she still had a great game.
“She’s a big key for us.”
The CHS bench contributed 15 points, including nine by sophomore post Paige Gardner.
Junior post Yara Rosas was Mayfield’s lone double-figure scorer, finishing with 13 points.
Both teams pressed much of the game. The difference was Clovis had people who could make the Lady Trojans (8-6) pay.
“They kind of just wanted to run and gun,” said junior forward Delaney Ware, who contributed five points and a team-high four assists. “We didn’t let their press hurt us.”
Ware said the Lady Cats’ pressure creates a lot of problems.
“I think that’s a big part of our game,” she said. “You can put any one of us in there, and the job is usually going to get done.”
Reed said the Lady Cats are getting better, and still have plenty of room for improvement.
“It’s good to be 9-2; the thing is, we could be 11-0,” he said, referring to close losses to Gallup and La Cueva. “I think we can learn from those games and if we see those teams later in the year we’ll know we can play with them. We’re not even close to our potential yet.”
