Cloverdale girls fall to Clay City

CLOVERDALE -- The Cloverdale girls' basketball team played host to Clay City in a Saturday morning contest. The Clovers played well the entire game except for five minutes in the third quarter, a stretch that cost them in a 40-33 loss.

"We were a bit sluggish in the first half but I was real pleased with our bench kids that came in. They gave us a little bit of a break, this is our fourth game in five days," Eel head coach Chris Ames said.

"We saw a lot of good things last night and that continued over. Our girls came in with a lot of confidence and we were hitting some shots," Clover head coach Matthew Langdon said.

The game started out with both teams attempting many three-point shots, and that pace would not subside the entire game. Cloverdale was 4-for-23 from deep and Clay City was 3-for-19 from deep for the ballgame.

"I thought in the first half we were taking some selfish shots as individuals and that's what led to some other kids getting to play. We cannot play selfishly, we have to move the ball" Ames said.

"We took a couple more threes than we normally do," Langdon said. "We want to take 12-15 threes a game, we feel we can hit them."

The game was close in the first half as neither team trailed by more than five. To close out the first half the Clovers went on a 7-0 run to take the lead 22-19.

The start of the third quarter was all the Eels needed to take control of the game. They went on a 15-2 run to take a 34-24 lead.

The Eels' defense really toughened up and only allowed 11 total Clover points in the second half.

"Coming out in the third quarter we just did not have the same intensity and this is the point in the year we are are starting to play some teams that a four-minute stretch can really cost you the game," Langdon said.

"For the most part the defense played well and we were down two players in the second half and put our rotation went down to six," he added. "We just did not finish the defense plays in the third quarter that led to them getting a bunch of points. I thought we missed an opportunity when they had seven fouls late in the third quarter."

Cloverdale could not mount a run in a low-scoring fourth quarter, scoring just five in the frame.

Clay City shot 33 percent on the night and CHS shot just 29 percent.

Clay City was led by senior Alex Wolfe, who scored 10 points on 3-of-five shooting and a perfect 4-for-4 from the line.

Junior Taylor Clark led the Clovers with 12 points on a very good 5-of-8 shooting. Junior Bailee Stevens led Cloverdale with eight rebounds including two offensive boards.

"The Stevens girl is excellent," Ames said. "She drives it hard and we do not see that a lot. She beat us a lot in the first half."

Both teams look to finish the season strong and make a deep run into the tournament.

"We need to move the basketball, take care of it better and rebound. This is a good week to play that many games and get better," Ames said.

"I think we can build on a pretty good weekend for us. We got a win and competed really well today," Langdon said.

At Cloverdale
Clay City 14 5 17 4 -- 40
Cloverdale 11 11 6 5 -- 33
Scoring
Clay City (40): Wolfe 3-5 4-4 10, Ellinger 4-9 0-0 8, Miller 2-8 1-2 6, Rogers 2-10 2-3 6, Truax 2-7 0-0 6, Boyll 1-2 0-0 2, Sinders 1-2 0-0 2, Durga 0-2 0-0 0. Total: 15-46 (3-19) 7-9, 40.
Cloverdale (33): Clark 5-8 0-0 12, Stevens 3-11 5-8 11, M. Helterbrand 2-10 0-2 6, Combs 1-1 0-0 2, Winders 1-4 0-1 2, Dorsett 0-6 0-0 0, K. Helterbrand 0-1 0-0 0. Total: 12-41 (4-23) 5-11, 33.
Rebounds-offensive
Clay City (28-9): Wolfe 9-5, Rogers 6-2, Ellinger 6-1, Price 2-0, Sinders 2-0, Boyll 1-1, Truax 1-0.
Cloverdale (27-8): Stevens 8-2, M. Helterbrand 6-1, Winders 5-1, Combs 3-2, Clark 3-1, Dorsett 2-1.
Turnovers: Eels 9, Clovers 10. Fouls: Eels 15, Clovers 9.