Clovers gets past North Putnam, reach semis

Tuesday, January 31, 2017
Cloverdale’s Abby Walker gets ready to hit teammate Tori Combs with a pass on a fast break against North Putnam.
Banner Graphic/Joey Bennett

CLAYTON — Cloverdale played more maturely than its age, for the most part, and managed to accomplish the sometimes difficult task of beating a team for a third time with a 63-26 win over North Putnam on Tuesday in the Cascade Class 2A girls’ basketball sectional.

The Clovers will now play Monrovia at 6 p.m. on Friday in the semifinal round.

The Clovers did not take long to take control of the game, getting three treys from junior Abby Walker in jumping out to a 15-2 first-quarter lead.

A pair of Aleah Duncan baskets and one by Baylee Osburn helped the Cougars get within 18-8 at the first stop, but a 13-0 Cloverdale run midway through the second period put away any hopes of an upset by the Cougars.

Cloverdale coach Matthew Langdon was glad his team did not get one of the two first-round byes admits he did see some mental effects of the big stage apparent in his team.

“You could tell,” Langdon said. “We haven’t been in that kind of pressure before, when you’re expected to win.

“It’s tough to play the first game of the night, and there were some jitters, but it’s a testament to how hard we worked over the summer and have worked all year,” he added. “It was good for us to be able to put up 60 points on not one of our better nights.”

Walker took all 10 of her field-goal attempts from 3-point range, but when you hit six of them you can shoot all you want.

“Abby is one of those girls who steps up in big moments,” Langdon said. “The bigger the moment, the bigger the shots for her. She did the same thing in the sectional last year.”

One particular area that displeased Langdon was his team’s 5 for 16 performance at the free throw line.

“We’ve seen that pop up from time to time,” he said.

“It’s definitely something we have to clean up. I think it was more mental than anything.”

North Putnam coach Jarrod Duff was proud of the season-long improvement of his rebuilding team, but was hopeful of a better performance in the sectional — win or lose.

“The one thing that is disappointing about this game is that it doesn’t really reflect as far as it has come as a team,” said Duff, completing his first year in charge of the Cougar program. “We’ve gotten better in every aspect of the game. It’s just disappointing that it didn’t show in this game, and that we didn’t play better.”

Duff noted that Cloverdale’s full-court pressure defense and desire to create an up-tempo atmosphere are not good matchups for his team.

“We couldn’t put enough good possessions together to make a run on them,” he said.

The Cougars will lose five seniors from this team, but return a strong group of underclassmen who provide optimism for future seasons.

“Our young kids love to play, and I think they’ll work hard in the off-season and get better,” he said. “They have had good examples and role models to look at in our seniors.

“That’s one of the coolest things about this year... when you have a lot of young girls on the team, and they’re getting a lot of playing time, you worry about how the seniors will handle it,” Duff added. “There has not been one bit of jealousy, bitterness or anything from them. They have been great to work with, and they have gotten better.”

The Clovers will now play a Monrovia team they beat 62-56 on its own floor in a holiday tournament.

“They like to score points, like we do,” Langdon noted. “They are going to hit some shots, and we have to do a better job defensively — especially on the baseline.”

CLOVERDALE (63) — Combs 10-18 1-7 21, Shrum 1-4 0-0 2, Walker 6-10 0-2 18, Thomas 3-8 3-4 9, Helterbrand 4-4 0-1 8, McCracken 0-1 1-2 1, Price 1-2 0-0 2, Meek 0-1 0-0 0, Simpson 0-1 0-0 0, Shoemaker 1-1 0-0 2, Wade 0-1 0-0 0, Shedron 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-52 FG, 5-16 FT, 63 TP

NORTH PUTNAM (26) — Duncan 2-3 0-0 4, Henninger 2-6 0-0 4, Sims 0-3 1-2 1, Runnells 1-4 0-0 2, Parent 1-2 0-0 2, Osburn 2-3 0-0 4, Lyons 2-7 0-0 4, Spencer 1-1 0-0 2, Tennis 0-2 1-2 1, Young 0-0 0-0 0, Day 1-1 0-0 2, Sawyer 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 12-34 FG, 2-4 FT, 26 TP

Cloverdale 18 18 9 18 — 63

North Putnam 8 5 6 7 — 26

3-point shooting — Cloverdale 6-18 (Shrum 0-2, Walker 6-10, Thomas 0-4, Meek 0-1, McCracken 1), NP 0-6 (Duncan 0-1, Runnells 0-2, Lyons 0-1, Tennis 0-1). Turnovers — Cloverdale 17, North Putnam 24.

Next game — Cloverdale (15-8) plays Monrovia in the Cascade Sectional semifinals at 6 p.m. on Friday. North Putnam finished 2-21.

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