Cloverdale progress halted as Shakamak continues hot start to season

Cloverdale’s Amalia Haga manages to avoid the attention of Shakamak’s Elayni Stone for a layup off a steal in the 56-24 loss Saturday night.

Banner Graphic/TRENT SCOTT

CLOVERDALE – Even in a pair of losses in its last two outings, Cloverdale seemed to be finding its footing in the early girls’ basketball season ahead of Shakamak’s arrival Saturday night.

Any progress made by the Clovers was halted by a Laker team that made it five-straight wins in the early season, sinking the Clovers 56-24.

“Tonight was just different,” Cloverdale head coach James Wade said. “We didn’t have the same team on the floor that we had against South Putnam and Clay City. I’m not sure why.

“It was frustrating. We took some steps backward tonight. We didn’t say much in the locker room as I was frustrated. We’ll watch film, figure out what we can do better as a staff and as a team.

“There’s not a lot we can do about it anymore,” Wade added. “We can watch and learn from it but it was a frustrating night.”

For much of the first quarter, the game was close as Sarah Nichols had three points to match an Aubrie Lambermont three.

Lambermont added a second three between a pair of Aubree Langford putbacks while Amilia Haga hit a late jumper for the hosts, who trailed 10-6 after a quarter of play.

The second quarter was where the game broke open as Shakamak’s press threw Cloverdale for a loop.

Elayni Stone opened the period with a three and a putback, followed by a Langford three that that made it 18-6 three minutes in.

Haga scored off a steal but a procession of turnovers led to quick baskets for the Lakers, who rattled off 12-straight points to make it 30-8.

Gracie Haga hit a late three to get the Clovers to double digits but the hosts trailed by nearly double their first-half output at 30-11.

“There was a lack of execution and a lack of execution led to a lack of effort,” Wade said about the second quarter difficulties in facing the 2-3 press. “I’d like to look at the film to see what it was that caused us problems, outside of being weak to the ball.

“Every pass was a step slow, everything we saw was a step slow. We had players open but didn’t get the ball there. Credit Shakamak as we certainly didn’t do enough to make it competitive tonight.”

Stone and Chase Hammond continued to cause problems for the Cloverdale guards, whether it was in the press or in the halfcourt zone, constantly deflecting passes for turnovers and not allowing the home team to build any rhythm.

The result was the lead grown to 30 after the third quarter ended as Shakamak led 46-16, Stone scoring eight points and Hammond adding two threes to help the Lakers build their advantage.

Content with the gap, the visitors worked the ball inside much of the fourth quarter to get baskets for their post players and eventually hit the mercy rule number with 2:44 to play.

Stone led all scorers with 19 points while Lambermont scored in every quarter to finish with 12 points. Gracie Haga added two late threes to lead the Clovers with nine points.

Scoring

Shakamak (18 2FG; 6 3FG; 2-4 FT) — Smith 19, Lambermont 12, Langford 9, Hammond 8, Hardesty 4, Janouskova 2, Ewers 2

Cloverdale (5 2FG; 3 3FG; 5-8 FT) — G. Haga 9, A. Haga 4, Ford 4, Nichols 4, Mann 3