Cloverdale girls win Monrovia tournament

Tuesday, December 27, 2016

MONROVIA — The Cloverdale girls’ basketball team won the Bulldog Classic on Tuesday with a 38-35 win over rival South Putnam on Tuesday.

Cloverdale battled back from a 22-16 halftime deficit with an 11-4 third quarter for a one-point lead at the final stop.

The Clovers outscored the Eagles again in the final quarter for the three-point win.

Tori Combs led the Clovers with 17 points and 15 rebounds, her second double-double of the day.

The Eagles had a pair of scorers in double figures, with Caitlin Capps scoring 15 and Miranda Bieghler adding 13.

An early press time on Tuesday evening did not allow for a full recap of the championship game. Watch for it at www.bannergraphic.com as well as in the Friday edition of the Banner Graphic.

South Putnam 7 15 4 9 -- 35

Cloverdale 8 8 11 11 – 38

Cloverdale 62, Monrovia 56 — The Clovers used balanced scoring and a strong overtime effort to defeat the hosts in the opener on Tuesday.

Cloverdale started the game with 11 straight points and maintained a 13-6 lead at the end of the first quarter. Five players scored in the quarter, which became a theme all night.

“We had all five starters score in double figures tonight. That doesn’t happen very often at a small school,” Cloverdale coach Matthew Langdon said. “We really did a lot of good things today.”

The Clovers maintained their lead through the second quarter as they still led 20-16 at halftime. The two teams struggled with turnovers in the first half, combining for 29.

Both teams picked it up offensively in the third quarter. Monrovia cut the lead a little to 36-33 heading into the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs began to hit jump shots that didn’t fall earlier as they hit three from long-range in the quarter.

However, Tori Combs scored nine of her team-high 17 points in the quarter to keep the Clovers on top.

The Clovers kept trying to pull away in the fourth quarter, but Monrovia wouldn’t go away. A Sammie Shrum layup with a minute to go gave the Clovers a five-point lead at 47-42.

The Bulldogs scored nine points in the final minute, capped by Alicia Whitney’s layup with three seconds to go to force overtime.

“Give Monrovia a lot of credit. They really hit some long-range shots in the last minute. It wasn’t like we just gave up easy shots,” Langdon said

The balanced Clovers scored 11 points in the overtime stanza, but true to form had five players score in the extra period and held on for the victory.

“We did a lot of good things in the overtime. We hadn’t really been in a close game like that and we really showed a lot of composure,” Langdon said.

The Clovers were led by Combs with 17 points and 15 rebounds. Shrum chipped in 12 points and Hailey Thomas had 11. Arianna McCracken and Kelsey Helterbrand each scored 10.

Makayla Swafford led the Bulldogs with 16 points and Whitney added 15.

The Clovers really pounded the boards, outrebounding Monrovia 46-27 for the game.

“We talked about rebounding at the break and really did a good job late in the game. We got to get ready to play a familiar opponent (South Putnam) and it is exciting for the girls to be in a championship game,” Langdon said.

CLOVERDALE (62) – Shrum 6-17 0-0 12, Thomas 1-3 9-15 11, Combs 6-8 5-8 17, Helterbrand 4-8 2-4 10, McCracken 3-5 4-6 10, Price 1-2 1-2 3, Meek 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-44 FG, 21-35 FT, 62 TP.

MONROVIA (56) – Payne 2-7 3-5 8, Grimes 0-1 0-0 0, Keen 3-15 2-4 10, Wilkerson 1-3 0-0 3, Whitney 6-9 3-8 15, Swafford 6-16 0-0 16, Palmer 2-4 0-5 4. Totals 20-55 FG, 8-22 FT, 56 TP.

Cloverdale 13 7 16 15 9 – 62

Monrovia 6 10 17 18 5 – 56

3-point shooting – CHS 0-6 , MHS 8-28 (Payne 1-2, Grimes 0-1, Keen 2-12, Wilkerson 1-3, Swafford 4-10). REB – CHS 46 (Shrum 8, Thomas 3, Combs 15, Helterbrand 4, McCracken 9, Price , Meek 2), MHS 27 (Payne 2, Grimes 1, Keen 2, Wilkerson 4, Whitney 8, Swafford 2, Palmer 4), FG Pct. – CHS 47.8, MHS 36.4. FT Pct. – CHS 60.0, MHS 36.4. Turnovers – CHS 29, MHS 26.

South Putnam 51, Bethesda Christian 42 — The Lady Eagles advanced to the championship with a fast start against the Patriots.

South jumped out to an 11-0 lead and never trailed on their way to the nine-point victory.

“We really did some things early on that we wanted to. We moved the ball side to side and attacked the rim well,” South Putnam coach Brian Gardner said.

The Eagles used that 11-0 run establish a 19-9 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Lily Stein scored 11 of her 17 points in the quarter and the Eagles turned the ball over just twice while forcing seven Patriot turnovers.

South kept the pressure on in the second quarter. The Eagles extended their lead to 29-16 as they did not commit a turnover in the quarter and forced another five from Bethesda Christian.

“We really took care of the ball and played pretty well defensively. We were doing a good job of being in the right spot,” Gardner said.

The Patriots chipped away in the second quarter, but Miranda Bieghler scored seven of her game-high 21 points to keep the Eagles up by double digits at 43-33 at the end of the third period.

Bethesda Christian cut the lead down to three at 43-40 to start the fourth, but the Eagles wouldn’t allow them any closer as they hit free throws down the stretch.

The Eagles hit 20-of-24 free throws for the game and eight-of-10 in the final stanza. They needed that, as they missed all 15 field goal attempts in the fourth quarter.

“We talked about getting to the free throw line at the break. We attacked the rim,” Gardner said.

Bieghler led the Eagles with 21 points. Stein added 17 points and 11 rebounds. Maddi Fulks led the Patriots with 19 points and Rachel Shafer added 11.

BETHESDA CHRISTIAN (42) – Elliott 1-3 0-0 2, Shafer 3-8 3-4 11, Fulks 8-14 2-2 19, Baker 4-11 0-0 8, Dodson 0-0 0-0 0, Patterson 1-3 0-2 2, James 0-0 0-0 0, Charleswood 0-1 0-0 0, Koch 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-40 FG, 5-8 FT, 42 TP.

SOUTH PUTNAM (51) – Bieghler 4-11 11-12 21, Nichols 0-4 2-2 2, Capps 1-4 0-0 2, Stein 5-15 4-6 17, Vanihel 1-6 3-4 5, Vensko 0-0 0-0 0, Boswell 2-6 0-0 4. Totals 13-46 FG, 20-24 FT, 51 TP.

Bethesda Christian 9 7 17 9 – 42

South Putnam 19 10 14 8 – 51

3-point shooting – BC 3-12 (Shafer 2-6, Fulks 1-5, Baker 0-1), SP 5-18 (Bieghler 2-6, Stein 3-8, Boswell 0-2, Vanihel 0-2) REB – BC 28 (Elliott 1, Shafer 8, Fulks 1, Baker 5, Dodson 1, Patterson 2, James 1), SP 29 (Bieghler 5, Nichols 1, Capps 1, Stein 11, Vanihel 8, Vensko 1), FG Pct. – BC 42.5, SP 28.3. FT – BC 62.5, SP 83.3. Turnovers – BC 21, SP 14.

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