Cloverdale girls fall 48-43 in overtime
Cloverdale’s varsity girls had every chance to win their North Central League I basketball opener against the Clear Lake Cardinals on Tuesday night, but the Eagles couldn’t put the game away in the final seconds of regulation and ended up on the wrong side of a 48-43 overtime loss.
It was a tough way to open league for the Eagles, perennial NCL I title contenders , especially with the game taking place on their own court.
“I can’t remember the last time I won here,” Clear Lake coach Kory Reynolds said, a big smile parked on his face.
And why not?
Reynolds and the Cardinals were 55.3 seconds away from losing the game in regulation with Cloverdale holding a 41-35 lead after Valerie Hutton’s basket down low for Clear Lake, the first bucket for either team during a three-minute stretch.
Hutton, a junior guard who has missed all but four of the Cardinals’ 12 games this season with an ankle injury, one that she aggravated a week ago during a tournament game in Fort Bragg, proved to be Cloverdale’s bane down the stretch.
“What she did for us was huge,” Reynolds said.
Hutton finished with 12 points, all but two of which were scored in either the fourth quarter or overtime period. She pounded her way inside for two more points before coming right back on Clear Lake’s next possession and nailing a wide-open 3-pointer to make it 41-40 with 29.9 seconds left.
The Eagles worked the clock down to 16.0 seconds, forcing Clear Lake to foul them twice before they could get to the free-throw line in the bonus. Kayli Persons went to the line for a one-and-one but missed the front end as the Cardinals grabbed the rebound and hurriedly worked the ball down the court.
Hutton missed a 3-pointer but teammate Jasmine Rice was able to grab the offensive rebound while bracketed by Cloverdale players. She flipped up a shot and was fouled.
Cloverdale coach Rick Berry called a timeout with only 5.7 seconds to go. Rice missed her first shot, at which point the Eagles called another timeout. Rice didn’t seem to mind and she calmly sank her second shot to tie the score at 41.
On the inbounds pass, Cloverdale standout freshman Tehya Bird (19 points) made a long and accurate pass down the court to teammate Camryn Figueroa (11 points), who had worked her way behind the Clear Lake defense. It appeared Figueroa had an easy path to the basket for an uncontested layup, but before she could take a shot, a Clear Lake defender trying to close ground tripped her up from behind. That foul sent the Cloverdale junior to the line for not two shots but a one-and-one, and she missed the front end.
With only two seconds left, Clear Lake launched a shot from nearly three-quarters court that didn’t come close, forcing overtime.
The extra period was only seconds old when Hutton, Cloverdale’s nemesis at every turn on this night, drove inside for a basket and was fouled. She made the free throw to put Clear Lake ahead to stay at 44-41. After a turnover by the Eagles, Camille Donald, thorn No. 2 in Cloverdale’s side late in this game, caught all net on a baseline 3-pointer to make it 47-41.
There was still plenty of time for Cloverdale to answer but the Eagles, ice-cold from the field (1-for-10) in the fourth quarter, fared little better in overtime. Bird scored the Eagles’ first and only points of the overtime with 1:49 remaining. She also was fouled but missed the free throw. The Eagles misfired on a handful of shots before Donald sank one of two free throws with 33.6 seconds remaining to seal the victory.
Cloverdale’s shooting woes in the fourth quarter and overtime were nowhere to be found earlier in the evening, with the exceptions of the game’s first few minutes as Clear Lake opened up a 10-2 lead. The Eagles rallied to tie the game at 12-all by the end of the period and they pushed ahead 16-14 early in the second quarter, a lead they held until Rice’s tying free throw in the final seconds of regulation. In fact, the Eagles led by as many as nine points late in the third quarter and appeared to be on their way to distancing themselves from the Cardinals.
Clear Lake answered with a basket to end the third quarter and a mini-4-0 run to open the fourth quarter – all four points by Donald, who didn’t have a single point through the first three periods – put the Cardinals right back in the game at 36-33.
Bird had 12 of her team-leading 19 points in the first half for Cloverdale, which received another seven points from Jaedyn Jenkins.
Hutton and Kortnie Reynolds led the Cardinals with 12 points apiece.
Cloverdale (0-1 league, 8-4 overall) faces another big challenge on Friday when it visits league favorite and defending league champion Kelseyville (1-0, 12-1). The Eagles and Knights are meeting for a third time after Kelseyville wins in the championship games of the Stokes Tournament (69-37) at Kelseyville and the Orland Tournament (52-37), both played last month.
