Seniors lead Cloverdale to win over Riverton Parke

Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Kristin McCammon

By Tim Tuttle

For the Banner Graphic

MONTEZUMA -- Seniors Kristin McCammon, Kayla Shepherd and Allie Franklin rose to the occasion in the fourth quarter Tuesday to carry Cloverdale to a hard-fought 48-42 victory over Riverton Parke in a nonconference girls basketball game on the Panthers' court.

McCammon, Shepherd and Franklin combined to score the Clovers' final 16 points including eight straight free throws. McCammon scored nine, Shepherd five and Franklin two. Cloverdale made 11-of-14 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter.

"Our seniors hit threes and knocked down free throws," first-year coach James Wade said. "They led us. They've been there before. They know how to play through adversity.

"This is a tough place to play. We're short our senior center (Elizabeth Cheatham) and we had to fight through that. Without Elizabeth, it obviously took its toll and hurt us on the boards. We gave up 18 offensive boards.

"We took care of the ball and played hard. We could have folded at times and we didn't. I'm proud of the girls."

McCammon scored 18, Shepherd 15 and Franklin nine. With Cheatham out for the third straight game with an ankle injury, they are the Clovers remaining seniors.

"McCammon is a senior and she should step up," Wade said. "We needed a bucket and she gave us a bucket. Shepherd played real well. Franklin gets a lot of hustle points, gets loose balls. And give credit to our other girls for looking for them."

Kayla Shepherd

Cloverdale (2-4), which snapped a three-game losing streak, trailed 32-31 entering the final period.

Clovers' junior Sam Rightmyer made a free throw to tie it at 32. McCammon drilled a 3-pointer from the top of the key to put Cloverdale on top, 35-32.

Riverton Parke's Hannah Byers made two free throws to cut its deficit to one.

McCammon followed by making a 3-pointer from the corner that boosted the Clovers to a 38-34 advantage with 4:50 remaining.

Franklin made two free throws at 4:20 to put the Clovers on top, 40-34.

Riverton Parke (1-4) never was closer than four after that.

Cloverdale went into a delay at 3:33 and effectively ran the clock down with solid ball handling. It forced the Panthers to foul.

McCammon made two free throws at 1:57, Shepherd two at 1:04 and two more at 31 seconds for a 46-40 advantage.

In the fourth quarter, Shepherd made 5-of-6 free throws, McCammon 3-of-4, Franklin 2-of-2 and Rightmyer 1-of-2.

Cloverdale hopes to have the 6-foot Cheatham, a tower of strength in the middle, back for its next game, Monday at Eminence.

At Riverton Parke

Cloverdale 8 11 12 17 -- 48

Riverton Parke 4 12 16 10 -- 42

Allie Franklin

CLOVERDALE (48)

McCammon 5 5-10 18, Shepherd 3 8-10 15, Franklin 2 5-9 9, Rightmyer 0 1-2 1, Andersen 0 1-2 1, McCallie 0 0-0 0, Byrd 0 1-2 1, Totals 12 20-33 48.

RIVERTON PARKE (42)

Mathas 1 0-1 2, Gossett 0 1-2 1, Falls 4 2-6 10, Haltom 3 1-2 7, Dailey 1 0-0 2, Julian 0 0-0 0, Byers 7 4-5 18, Dickey 1 0-3 2, Totals 17 8-10 42.

3-point field goals -- Cloverdale --McCammon 3, Shepherd 1. Total fouls -- Cloverdale 17, Riverton Parke 21. Fouled out -- Rightmyer, Gossett.

Next game -- Cloverdale will travel to Eminence Monday at 6 p.m.

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