Clovis plays pressure-free in rolling to first girls basketball state championship since 2005

Before the season started, most observers pegged Clovis as the team to beat in 5A girls basketball.

But instead of shying away from favorite status as most teams are wont to do, Wildcats coach Jeff Reed chose a different tactic.

"We learned to love having the bulls-eye on us," Reed said.

It showed. Top-seeded Clovis (30-2) lived up to its billing and then some, rolling to a 62-48 win over second-seeded Mayfield (Las Cruces) in the 5A girls basketball state championship game Saturday at the Pit in Albuquerque.

In the 5A boys final, sixth-seeded Las Cruces (24-7) finished strong en route to a 61-49 victory over fourth-seeded Clovis.
 
The rest of the boys' winners included St. Pius X (Albuquerque) in 4A, Hope Christian (Albuquerque) in 3A, Laguna Acoma (New Laguna) in 2A, Cliff in 1A and Hondo in Class B. The other girls' winners included Los Lunas in 4A, Lovington in 3A, Navajo Pine (Navajo) in 2A, Logan in 1A and Elida in Class B.

For the first time since 2002, neither of the 5A championship games — New Mexico's largest classification — involved a team from Albuquerque, where most of the large schools reside. The south has risen again.

"There is some pride when it comes to teams from the south (region of the state) winning it all," Reed said.

Talk about living up to expectations. The Wildcats, who finished their season ranked 33rd nationally in the MaxPreps Freeman Rankings, captured their first state title since 2005, doing it in dominating fashion. After winning its first two state playoff games by 44 and 41 points, respectively — no, that's not a typo — Clovis beat La Cueva (Albuquerque) 60-52 in the semifinals. Sophomore post Shelby Jones had a huge game, finishing with a career-high 21 points and 13 rebounds, including nine offensive.

"For Shelby to step up is exactly what we needed," said Clovis standout guard Danni Williams, who scored 22 points in the championship game against Mayfield. "If we don't get that game from her, we're probably not getting to the state championship game."

Indeed, with Williams mired in foul trouble against La Cueva, Clovis looked vulnerable. However, the Wildcats got a boost from sixth-man Jenna Sievers (eight points), and solid play from Niki Cordova (nine points), Carrie Sharp and Brandi Gomez.

Both of Clovis' losses this season came to district rival Hobbs — the teams played five times, with Clovis winning three of them — but the Wildcats faced little resistance throughout the season, posting an average margin of victory of 29.6 points. Simply put, Clovis was dominating from start to finish.

"It feels amazing to run the table, to go from preseason No. 1 to being No. 1 at the end," Reed said. "I knew we were going to have the label of favorite from the beginning because of the players we had coming back (from last year's team). So instead of running from it, I tried to have the girls embrace it. There's no way to get around it, so we might as well just learn to like the idea of being the favorites."

Even though Clovis won nine games by 40 points or more, it never got overconfident or lacked motivation. Whenever the Wildcats had a subpar practice — there weren't many — all the coaches and players had to do was remind themselves of last year's state tournament semifinal loss to Volcano Vista (Albuquerque).

"No one wanted to have that feeling again," Williams said. "That loss made us hungry to get to the top, and we didn't feel the pressure of being No. 1 from the start of the season because it didn't really mean anything to us. We weren't the No. 1 team until Saturday night."

Reed said the best thing about winning state is its finality.

"Usually at this point in the year you're thinking about what you could have or should have done to win it," Reed said. "Now we're thinking about hanging our banner in the gym. And this thing is permanent. Twenty years from now, people will remember the 2013 team. It still hasn't fully sunk in yet, but I'm sure it'll sink in when I get some sleep."

Reed has already had people asking him about making a potential repeat title run next season. Williams said she's only going to take a week off before she gets back inside the weight room and on the court.

"The only thing better than winning state once is to do it again," Williams said. "I want to have that feeling again. When the final buzzer went off, I looked at the scoreboard and was shocked. I couldn't believe my biggest dream came true — we had just won a state championship."