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Clovers struggle in opener against Bruins
CLOVERDALE -- It had been a decade since Cloverdale's girls' basketball squad had won their season opener, having lost nine straight to opponents Tri-West.
That streak will continue for a 10th season as the Clovers dropped their first home game of the season 73-30 to the Bruins.
The visitors opened the game on a 10-0 run before Cloverdale recorded its first basket on a Paige Gruener lay-up.
The hosts kept the rest of the quarter close and trailed 18-7 after eight minutes of play.
Tri-West utilized an effective full-court press, forcing nine turnovers in the first period and added seven more in the second as they outscored the hosts 21-11 in the that period to take a 39-18 lead into the break.
The third quarter proved decisive as the Bruins, after a half of heavy pressing, finally took control of the game and outpaced the Clovers 16-2.
Lauren DeSutter scored 10 of her game-high 27 in the frame to pace the Bruins as the hosts finally showed signs of wearing down.
Tri-West began to rotate its squad heavily in the third and fourth quarters as Cloverdale continued to look for offensive rhythm.
The Bruins, after a sloppy start, committed only 10 turnovers in the game and kept pounding the boards late on to deny any chance of a Clover rally.
The visitors finished the game by outscoring Cloverdale 15-10 in the final quarter to cap off a 10th straight win over the Clovers.
Though the margin of defeat was large, Cloverdale head coach Matthew Langdon saw plenty of positives in the first game of the season.
"I think Bruins head coach Brad Acton always does a good job of getting his girls ready for us," Langdon said. "It's been a good program for a while. We know it's a tough game right off the bat."
"I thought the first half went okay. We hung with them. They push the ball and they are very well conditioned. We've been running more this year and there was a point in the second quarter where we were still able to run and put points on the board."
Landgon continued and talked about his team's struggles in the second half.
"We came out a little flat in the second half and you can't do that against a team that pushes the ball and shoots so well from the three point line," he said.
Langdon mentioned that while the offense looked better than at the same time last season, there was still work to be done.
"I thought in our half court sets on offense, especially in the first half, we were able to get behind the defense and get some open looks. That's a key for us," Langdon said. "A lot of teams put pressure on us but we were able to get behind the defense and make some good passes."
Langdon went on to say that the squad was already looking forward to their next game with Union Dugger to get a better gauge of where the team currently stands.
"We're going to take this for what it is and I told the girls they've been working (hard) for the last two weeks and we think we're on the right track.," Langdon said. "We need to keep working to be the more conditioned team.
"At times, when we're standing on offense, it's easy for the defense to play without using a lot of energy. They get out in lanes and the passes become very difficult.
"I think it's also important we be aggressive on defense," Langdon said. "We'll work on being more aggressive there and hopefully that leads to more points by turning defense into offense."
At Cloverdale
Tri-West 18 21 16 15 -- 73
Cloverdale 7 11 2 10 -- 30
Scoring
Tri-West -- FG 25-78, 3-FG 7-21, FT 6-12
DeSutter 27, Meyer 14, Jones 11, Baggett 4, Sprecher 4, Johnson 3, Waldeck 2, Sellers 2, Headlee 2, Brown 2, Badger 2
Cloverdale -- FG 13-53, 3-FG 0-11, FT 4-8
Nally 10, Gruener 8, Shrum 4, Skiles 2, Walters 2, Tate 2, Clark 1, Wellington 1
Rebounds -- Tri-West 37, Cloverdale 27
Turnovers -- Tri-West 10, Cloverdale 25
Fouls -- Tri-West 8, Cloverdale 13
Next Game: Cloverdale hosts Union (Dugger) Thursday.