Clovers pull out win over Clay City, 54-52

CLOVERDALE — The Cloverdale Clover girls’ basketball team trailed the Clay City Eels 52-45 with just over two minutes to play Tuesday night at Cloverdale. The Clovers reeled off the last nine points of the game to come away with a 54-52 win and improve to 13-2 on the season.

The Clovers host 3A No. 5-ranked Owen Valley and play at a tough 3A Northview team this weekend.

According to Cloverdale head coach, Matthew Langdon, this win started off a tough week that felt like the sectional tournament.

“This is a really tough week for us. This is a good 11-6 Clay City team. We have Owen Valley and Northview. This week has a tournament feel, our toughest week of the year. It was really good to get a win in the first one,” Langdon said.

Clay City used a 9-0 run in the fourth quarter to take a 52-45 lead, but the Clovers just wouldn’t quit. Tori Combs hit a layup with 2:19 to play to break the Eel run. The Clovers took a timeout then Abby Walker nailed her fourth three-pointer of the game to cut the lead to 52-50.

Following another timeout, Arianna McCracken stole the inbounds pass and converted a layup to tie the score at 52-all. The Clovers defended well, and Combs put in the winning shot with 26 seconds left and the Clovers held on to win.

“This game showed the difference between last year and this year. We are growing as a team. We’ve won some close games. You look up with one or two minutes to go, down by seven, you should lose the game when you put yourself in that situation. We just really had a no quit attitude and pulled that one out,” Langdon said.

The teams played pretty evenly all-night long. The first quarter ended with the Clovers on tip 17-15 with the two talented post players, Cloverdale’s Combs and Clay City’s Avalee Jeffers taking turns scoring. Combs had six points in the quarter and Jeffers had eight. Sammie Shrum gave the Clovers the edge in the quarter as she pumped in eight points.

“I thought our guards stepped up tonight. They all hit shots, drove the ball well. Hailey Thomas hit some big shots, Cash (Walker) hit a big three late, Sammie played well, and McCracken gets the big steal and score for us,” Langdon said.

The Clovers seemed to pull away in the second quarter. The Clovers held Jeffers to two points in the period and extended their lead to 29-23 behind some outside shooting by Walker and Thomas. The Clovers held the Eels to just 4-of-11 shooting in the quarter and seemed ready to take control as the half ended. Cloverdale really concentrated on stopping Jeffers in the quarter as McCracken chased the six-foot St. Mary’s of the Wood’s signee all over the court preventing her from getting the ball.

“She’s (McCracken) becoming a great defensive specialist for us, she really is. She can impact the game on one end of the floor,” Langdon said of the sophomore guard.

Clay City wouldn’t go away in the third quarter. They outscored the Clovers 15-10 in the quarter and set up the exciting final period. Jeffers picked up five of her game-high 17 points in the period for the Eels.

“We had a lot of respect for Clay City coming in. They were 11-6 and the Jeffers girl is really good,” Langdon said.

Combs led four Clovers in double figures with 15 points. Walker hit four treys for 12 points, Thomas had 11 and Shrum added 10 points for Cloverdale. Jeffers had 17 to lead all scorers, Lauren Myers scored 13 points and Madelyn Ames chipped in 10 to lead the way for the Eels.

Cloverdale will put its 13-2 record on the line Friday night as they host Western Indiana Eastern division leader, Owen Valley.

“We really got a win that was big for us heading into this weekend. The girls knew we needed to get this one,” Langdon said.

CLAY CITY (52) – Hernandez 1-3 0-0 2, Steward 3-9 0-0 6, Myers 6-9 0-0 13, Ames 3-8 1-2 10, Jeffers 7-13 3-3 17, Dickson 2-6 0-0 4, Grassick 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-48 FG, 4-5 FT, 52 TP.

CLOVERDALE (54) – McCracken 2-4 1-2 5, Shrum 4-13 0-0 10, Combs 7-12 1-5 15, Thomas 3-8 3-4 11, Walker 4-10 0-0 12, Price 0-1 1-2 1, Wade 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 20-50 FG, 6-13 FT, 54 TP.

Clay City 15 8 15 14 – 52

Cloverdale 17 12 10 15 – 54

3-point shooting – CC 4-15 (Hernandez 0-1, Steward 0-2, Myers 1-4, Ames 3-8), CHS 8-20 (Shrum 2-5, Thomas 2-4, Walker 4-10, Wade 0-1). Rebounds – CC 33 (Hernandez 1, Steward 7, Myers 4, Ames 2, Jeffers 13, Dickson 3, Grassick 1) CHS – 26 (McCracken 4, Shrum 4, Combs 10, Thomas 1, Walker 4, Price 2) FG Pct. – CC 45.8, CHS 40.0. FT Pct. – CC 80.0, CHS 46.2. Turnovers – CC 14, CHS 10.

Eagles win big at Shakamak

• South Putnam 67, Shakamak 44 — At Jasonville, The Eagles won their third straight game, despite a bad start that saw them commit eight first-quarter turnovers and fall behind 13-5.

“We started the game very slow with eight turnovers in the first quarter and missed some easy shots while Shakamak shot the ball very well t,” South Putnam coach Brian Gardner said. “We played a better second quarter and forced some turnovers and played better defensively.”

The Eagles dominat4ed the second period by a 25-1 margin for a 30-14 halftime.

They increased that lead to 47-27 after three periods.

Caitlin Capps led the Eagles with 16 points, while Miranda Bieghler added 14 and Lexi Vanihel added 10. Aubrey Hill had eight points while Lillie Stein and Chloe Custis each added seven in a balanced attack.

“It was a game that was on the road and out of the normal,” Gardner said. “We played better in the second quarter with more energy.

“We did a lot of good things with in our offense during the last three quarters,” he added. “Defensively we played well in the second quarter and in spurts during the second half. It was great to get a win on the road.”

The Eagles will travel to Sullivan today for a Western Indiana Conference game.

SOUTH PUTNAM (67) — D.Steffy 0 0-0 0, Custis 2 3-4 7, Burdge 0 0-0 0, Bieghler 5 4-4 14, Egold 0 0-0 0, Bratcher 1 3-4 5, Vanihel 2 6-8 10, Hill 3 2-3 8, A.Steffy 0 0-0 0, Proctor 0 0-0 0, Capps 7 2-4 16, Stein 2 2-2 7, Mahoney-Sutherland 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 FG, 22-29 FT, 67 TP

SHAKAMAK (44) — Huddleston 4 4-6 13, Pierce 1 0-0 2, Yeryar 2 0-1 4, Messimer 5 0-0 13, Lash 2 3-4 7, Tonnessen 0 0-0 0, Gilbert 1 3-4 5. Totals 15 FG, 10-15 FT, 44 TP

South Putnam 5 25 17 20 — 67

Shakamak 13 1 13 17 — 44

3-point goals — Huddleston, Messimer 3, Stein.