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Clover girls' can't overcome Vikings on road
WEST TERRE HAUTE--Trying to stay above .500 was already going to be difficult enough for Cloverdale's girls' basketball team when ir traveled to West Vigo Tuesday night.
Having only eight varsity players dressed further hindered the Clover cause as the Vikings weathered a late rally by the visitors and utilized a plus-24 rebounding advantage to win 58-46.
Cloverdale head coach Matthew Langdon said that the squad went out looking for a way to overcome the odds instead of falling prey to them.
"We talked to the girls before the game and told them we have some options here," Langdon said. "We're shorthanded, so we can make excuses before the game, or we can have girls step up and play much larger roles in the team.
"I felt that we had that tonight. I think all around, I was happy."
The first few minutes saw both teams trade baskets back-and-forth before, with the scores tied at 9-9, West Vigo converted a pair of three-point plays as part of an 8-0 run to put themselves in a comfortable position to end the first quarter.
Hailey Hamm hit a pair of jumpers and Bailee Stevens converted on a breakaway to close the quarter down four at 19-15.
Part of the pregame talk for Langdon centered around players stepping up for the team under trying circumstances and Hamm answered Langdon's call and single-handedly kept Cloverdale alive by the time the first half ended.
The junior scored the final 13 Clover points of the quarter, outscoring West Vigo by herself in the frame, to pull the visitors to within a point at 31-30 by halftime.
Langdon said seeing Hamm back in an offensive groove was a major positive from the game.
"I was very happy to see Hailey get back on track," Langdon said. "She'd been working on her shot after having a midseason slump.
"She'd been working on it after practice and it was great to see her stepping up with confidence. It looked like everything was going in in the first half but it was good to see that confidence."
Problems finally arose for Cloverdale when West Vigo began to make its height tell in the rebounding battle.
Shyanne Elkins became the prime target of the Viking offense as the senior center snared nine rebounds in the quarter and converted three of those rebounds into second chance baskets en route to scoring eight points in the quarter.
The Clover offense suffered as a result of the rebounding deficit, scoring six points in the third quarter to find themselves down 45-36 entering the fourth quarter.
A concerted effort at the start of the quarter closed the gap to two points before West Vigo eventually pulled away.
Abby Walker hit a three, followed by Hamm's only second half basket, another three, to cut the nine-point deficit down to three at 45-42.
Kylie Cardinal hit a free throw for the Vikings before Stevens scored to cut the lead to 46-44.
A quick 7-0 run by the hosts dashed any hopes of completing the comeback as West Vigo slowly added to its lead from the free throw line, turning the scoreline from a four-point lead to a 12-point win by the time the final horn sounded.
Though the loss pushed Cloverdale to its first sub-.500 record of the season, Langdon said the team put themselves in a position to have success but just didn't quite get the job done.
"I think we can take a lot from this game," Langdon said. "I felt like we did everything we needed to do hustle-wise and mentality-wise.
"We played in a physical game where there weren't many fouls called either way. We put ourselves in a position to win and that's all you can ask against one of the better West Vigo teams we've seen in a while."
With Cascade looming on Friday, Langdon reiterated the concept that the level of urgency shown by the squad in the next few days would determine how the rest of the season plays out.
"A lot of it is mentality," Langdon said. "We'll see on Friday if we have that urgency, if we care that we're under .500.
"We'll see on Friday what the rest of the season is going to look like. We need to play some of scrappiest, best basketball over the next few days because we've tasted some success and we have to show that we're willing to do the work to get that success back."
At West Vigo
Cloverdale 15 15 6 10 -- 46
West Vigo 19 12 14 13 -- 58
Statistics
Scoring
Cloverdale -- 20-54 FG, 4-23 3-FG, 2-3 FT -- Hamm 22, Stevens 12, Walker 6, Worthington 4, Dorsett 2, Huge 0, Meek 0
West Vigo -- 21-59 FG, 4-16 3-FG, 12-19 FT -- Elkins 17, Cardinal 14, Lane 9, Eddington 9, Barton 4, Pointer 2, Hudson 2, Curley 1, Garrett 0
Rebounding (Offensive)
Cloverdale 18 (5); West Vigo 42 (15)
Assists
Cloverdale 12; West Vigo 10
Steals
Cloverdale 9; West Vigo 4
Blocks
Cloverdale 3; West Vigo 1
Turnovers
Cloverdale 8; West Vigo 14
Fouls
Cloverdale 16; West Vigo 8
Next Game: Cloverdale (7-8, 0-1 WCC) hosts Cascade (6-9, 2-0 WCC) in the first game of a varsity doubleheader Friday