Cloverdale, Terre Haute South split close contests

Tori Combs had a huge game on Tuesday night as the Clovers beat Terre Haute South.

Banner Graphic file photo/JOEY BENNETT

CLOVERDALE — Fresh after winning the Putnam County Tournament on Saturday the Cloverdale girls’ basketball team continued its inspired play on Wednesday while hosting the Terre Haute South Braves.

The Clover boys also hosted the Braves in their season opener and answered several questions on how the team would respond after losing both Cooper Neese and Jalen Moore the last two seasons.

The girls won 62-59, while the boys lost 45-42.

Tori Combs had a big night for the Clovers (7-1), scoring 27 points and adding 21 rebounds. She also came up big in the final minutes with two of her seven blocks to help seal the win.

“Tori had a huge game,” Cloverdale girls’ coach Matthew Langdon praised.

“We came out and got up 20-4, and we knew that Terre Haute South would come fighting back and they did. They made it close before halftime and it just kept going back and forth the rest of the game.”

Cloverdale led by as many as 15 in the first quarter before the Braves (3-3) cut it to one at the half. Helping the Clovers out were three straight and-one opportunities in the first quarter, including two of Combs’ five. Lakkain Price had the other opportunity and continued her big night, falling one rebound short of a double-double with 13 points.

The Braves opened the second quarter with a 7-0 run to cut the lead to four and sophomore guard Zayda Hatfield hit a three at the end of the quarter to cut it to one. She had 20 points on the night and fouled out midway through the fourth quarter.

This game went all the way down the final minute with Terre Haute South getting the lead on an Amani Brown put-back after a missed free throw with 45 seconds remaining. Brown had the biggest night for the Braves with 26 points. The senior also hit six threes.

Hailee Thomas put the Clovers back ahead on the next possession when she hit a driving layup and was fouled in the process. Her free throw put the Clovers back up by three.

Brown had two opportunities to tie the game for the Braves, but had a three-point attempt blocked by Combs and air-balled another one before time expired.

“Sammie Shrum followed the scouting report perfectly on Brown,” Langdon said. “We wanted to give her the three because she is so good at driving. She did hit six threes, but Sammie kept her off the line.

“Autumn Lewellen played well defensively,” the Clover coach added, “and Hailey Thomas had a big basket to get us ahead at the end.

“This is a big win for us,” Langdon said. “We are learning how to fight and how to win close games.”

The boys’ game was exciting as well.

After losing both Neese and Moore, the Clover boys found a new freshman point guard in Kyle Thomas with a lot of promise. He scored 22 points along with getting four rebounds, three assists and a block in his first career varsity game.

Like the girls’ game, the Clovers (0-1) pulled out to an early lead with Thomas hitting consecutive threes and the Clovers leading by eight after one.

Unlike the girls’ game, the boys could not close out the game. The Braves went on a 6-2 run to start the second quarter and cut it to four to end the first half.

Terre Haute South (1-0) finally tied the game up on a Tonio Young 10-foot jump shot with 5:13 remaining in the third. From there it was back and forth throughout the third quarter and after being up by four with under a minute left in the quarter, South’s Kody Deckard got an and-one opportunity. He missed the free throw but one of Deonta Wade’s 16 rebounds was pulled in. He was fouled on the put back and made both to tie the game after three.

The foul on Wade was committed by Jake Wilkes, his fourth. That was big because Wilkes was the only Clover who had success rebounding. They were outrebounded 35-11.

Cloverdale was down by four in the final minute of play when Thomas hit another three off an offensive rebound by Wilkes to cut it to one.

Wade scored on an easy layup on the next Brave possession with 11 seconds left drawing a Clover timeout.

After the timeout, Thomas had two good looks from behind the arc, with the first one resulting in an offensive rebound after a jump ball but he missed the second as time expired.

The Clover boys will host Edgewood on Nov. 30 at 7:30 p.m. for their next game the girls will host North Putnam on Nov. 27 at 7:30 p.m.

Girls

TERRE HAUTE SOUTH (59) — Brown 26, Hatfield 20, Edinburgh 8, Pepperworth 3, Dillion 2, Cox 0, Morris 0, Padgett 0, Parks 0. Totals 23-67 FG, 8-26 3-pt, 5-9 FT.

CLOVERDALE (62) — Combs 27, Price 13, Shrum 11, Thomas 6, Wade 3, Shoemaker 2, Lewellen 0. Totals 22-53, 4-17 3-pt, 14-24 FT

Rebounds — Terre Haute South (15 OFF 32 TOT): Hatfield 6, Cox 6, Padgett 5, Pepperworth 5, Edinburgh 4, Parks 3, Dillion 2, Brown 1. Cloverdale (14 OFF 39 TOT): Combs 21, Price 9, Lewellen 5, Shrum 2, Thomas 1, Wade 1.

Boys

TERRE HAUTE SOUTH (45) — Wade 16, Deckard 10, Baker 5, Comer 5, Young 4, Turner 3, Kinnett 2, Rutledge 0, Thomas 0. Totals 18-41 FG, 3-10 3-pt, 6-14 FT

CLOVERDALE (42) — Thomas 22, Wilkes 8, Watts 6, N. Kelley 4, Sims 2, Ashcraft 0, J. Kelley 0. Totals 14-39 FG, 9-25 3-pt, 5-8 FT

Rebounding — Terre Haute South (15 OFF 35 TOT): Wade 16, Deckard 5, Kinnett 5, Comer 3, Thomas 2, Young 2, Baker 1, Turner 1. Cloverdale (3 OFF 11 TOT): Thomas 4, Wilkes 4, Watts 2, J. Kelley 1.