Clay City starts and ends strong in win over Cloverdale

Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Kristin McCammon (No. 22) drives to the basket around a Clay City defender in Monday's road battle with the Eels.

CLAY CITY -- A poor rebounding night and a tough shooting night by the Cloverdale Clovers added up to a 67-28 road loss to Clay City on Monday night.

The Cloverdale Clovers put themselves behind the eight ball in the opening eight minutes with 10 turnovers against constant pressure from Clay City. The Eels opened a 12-0 lead after one period and used a dominating 23-2 third quarter to put the game away in the second half.

"We gave up 11 offensive boards and shot five-of-13 free throws and dug ourselves a hole," coach James Wade said of the first quarter.

The Eels pressured Cloverdale's ball handlers throughout the first quarter in man-to-man defense, which led to an 0-for-6 shooting performance as the Clovers fell behind early.

Wade pointed to the Eels' defense as a key in his team's early struggles.

"They are a real physical team," Wade said of the Eels. "There was a lot of contact out top and it was hard for us to get into our offense."

Clay City's pressure did lead to some early foul trouble, which forced the Eels into a zone defense and the Clovers responded.

Kayla Shepherd and Kristin McCammon each hit 3-pointers in the second quarter and Cloverdale got to the line 13 times. However, the Clovers hit just five of those charity tosses and missed out on several other chances after missing the front end of a 1-and-1 opportunity.

Despite those negatives, Cloverdale trailed just 27-13 at halftime, but the Eels came out of the break and continued their pressure with even greater success.

Cloverdale got a score from Allie Franklin to trim the deficit to 27-15 to start the third quarter, but the Eels went on to force eight turnovers in the quarter and ran off 23 consecutive points to put the game out of reach.

Cloverdale substituted liberally in the final quarter, getting sophomores Holly McCammon, Breegan Anderson and freshman Katie Fulkerson into the contest. The trio combined for nine points in the fourth quarter.

"On the positive side, we got some younger girls in and they didn't quit," Wade said.

McCammon had six points to lead the Clovers while Anderson had five. Both Franklin and Shepherd added four.

In the JV game, McCammon had eight points and Fulkerson tallied four, but the Eels rallied for a 22-20 victory.

Cloverdale falls to 2-10 overall and travels to West Vigo on Monday evening..

At Clay City

Cloverdale 0 13 2 13 -- 28

Clay City 12 15 23 27 -- 67

Cloverdale (28)

Franklin 1-6 2-2 4, Shepherd 1-7 1-4 4, McCallie 0-2 0-0 0, K.McCammon 1-11 3-4 6, Rightmyer 1-3 1-3 3, Byrd 1-4 0-2 2, Anderson 1-1 3-6 5, Cheatham 0-1 0-0 0, H. McCammon 1-5 0-1 3, Fulkerson 0-0 1-2 1. Totals: 7-40 11-24 28..

Clay City (67)

Roeschlein 7-10 0-2 15, Drelick 4-19 0-2 8, Glass 5-6 2-3 12, A.Miller 1-2 0-0 2, McCullough 2-9 4-6 8, Reed 0-2 0-0 0, S.Miller 0-3 0-1 0, Bridgewater 7-13 3-9 18, Michaela Riggs 2-2 0-0 4. Totals: 28-66 9-23 67.

3-point fieldgoals -- Cl 3-12 (K.McCammon 1-7, H.McCammon 1-2, McCallie 0-1, Shepherd 1-2), CC 2-8 (Bridgewater 1-2, Roeschlein 1-3, Drelick 0-2, McCullough 0-1). Total Rebounds -- CL 26 (Shepherd 5), CC 48 (Bridgewater 16, McCullough 7). Total Fouls -- Cl 18, CC 24. Fouled out -- Cl (Franklin), CC (Drelick). Turnovers -- Cl 27, CC 19.

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