Stevens, Clovers clobber Eels 74-22

Cloverdale junior Bailee Stevens draws a foul on her way to scoring a basket in the second quarter against Eminence on Monday.

CLOVERDALE -- By the end of the first quarter on Monday, Cloverdale junior Bailee Stevens had outscored the visiting Eminence Eels 11-4. Stevens finished with 22 points, 16 rebounds, seven assists and three steals and the Clovers beat the Eels 74-22.

Stevens was aggressive on both ends of the floor, attacking the basket, drawing fouls and being active while avoiding defensive gambles.

"We did a good job of getting to the hole, getting to the foul line and being a little bit smarter," CHS coach Matthew Langdon said. "We talked a little bit about how you have to adjust when you're expected to play more minutes. The first two years of her career she was more of a spot player.

"Most of our girls play some large minutes in the game, so they need to be able to adjust and be able to play without getting fouls. ... I think that comes with rotation on defense. If you more your feet, you're not reaching as much. I thought we did much better as a team on that tonight."

Stevens, who had 20 points and 10 rebounds at halftime, sat the entire fourth quarter, as did the rest of Cloverdale's starters.

The Clovers (3-5, 0-0 WCC) were clearly a significantly more talented team than Eminence (0-7), and a victory seemed eminent before the game began, but Langdon said his team still had several areas to focus on as they search for ways to improve heading into the next phase of the season.

Being able to gain confidence in a live game, while still accomplishing goals, was a big part of the Cloverdale game plan against Eminence.

"We've been working this entire week on getting back to playing better defense," Langdon said. "There was more of, every single defensive possession, to be on your toes, to look for steals and to just not allow shots.

"... We want to get back to that shut-down mentality we had on defense last year and on offense we want to just stay aggressive."

The Clovers' defense limited the Eels to just four points in the first quarter and 10 at halftime, allowing the visitors to shoot just 20 percent (5-for-25).

After building a 31-point lead at the break, Stevens turned the offense over to sophomore Payton Dorsett, who had eight points in the third and 10 in the game. She also had three assists and two steals.

Sophomore Kimmy Winders had another efficient day for Cloverdale, finishing with nine points on just four shots and getting two rebounds, two assists and two steals. Junior Taylor Clark had six points, five boards and three blocks.

Freshman Kelsey Helterbrand had eight points and six rebounds for the Clovers.

Sophomore Zoe Foote was the most impactful player for the Eels. She had four points and seven rebounds and added three blocks. Senior Shelby Gore led them with 10 points.

Cloverdale's 74 points were the most for the school since Nov. 16, 2007 when it beat North Putnam 77-59.

The Clovers are off until Friday when they host Greencastle (6-2, 0-0 WCC) in a rematch of the Putnam County tournament championship game. The Tiger Cubs won that contest 61-51.

Tip-off is set for 6 p.m.

Eminence hosts White River Valley on Friday at 6 p.m.

Eminence (22): Gore 4-10 2-4 10, Foote 2-9 0-0 4, Hall 2-14 0-0 4, Moore 1-10 0-0 2, Teters 1-6 0-0 2, Sandefur 0-2 0-0 0, Baldin 0-2 0-0 0, Finch 0-0 0-0 0. Total 10-51 2-4 22.