HOOPING TO A NEW TUNE
With Villalpando taking over as new head coach, Clifton Lady Cubs off to strong start in Class 3A girls basketball season
Under new leadership, the Clifton Lady Cubs entered the 2023-24 Texas high school girls basketball season armed with an experienced squad and a burning desire to back into the Class 3A playoffs. With two highly-competitive tournaments and a host of non-district games already under their belts, the Lady Cubs appear to be headed in the right direction.
In the 10th year of his coaching career, Mario Villalpando takes over the Lady Cub basketball program in his eighth year at Clifton High School, his alma mater, after graduating from Tarleton State University in 2011. And after strong showing at the Clifton Tournament Nov. 16-17, Clifton (7-6) split four games at the tough Kolache Tournament in West last weekend.
“The Kolache Tournament was a great experience for our team,” Villalpando said. “We got to compete against some familiar opponents, as well as some we have never played before. The experience is exactly what we need to get us ready for district games.”
Despite opening the tournament with a 36-28 loss to the host West Lady Trojans, Clifton bounced back to crush Newman International Academy, 55-10, and Italy, 47-16, before closing out the weekend with a 48-39 loss to Orangefield.
“Just like our tournament, the Kolache Tournament gave us a chance to play against some quality teams,” Villalpando said. “It gave us a chance to compete, and find out more about ourselves as a team.”
After going into the Thanksgiving break on a winning note with a hard-fought 44-40 victory over Class 4A Robinson, the Lady Cubs returned to action after an eight-day layoff to lose to McGregor, 37-31. In the win against Robinson, sophomore Avary Woosley led Clifton with 15 points, while Brianna Gonzalez and junior Camy Barsh topped the Lady Cubs with eight points each in the loss to McGregor.
“I was pleased with the way our girls played against Robinson,” Villalpando said. “We trailed for a majority of the game and entered the fourth quarter down by 10 points. The team never got discouraged and found a way to comeback and win the game.
“We found ourselves in another close battle against McGregor. The team’s effort and intensity on the defensive end of the court was great. Unfortunately, we had one of our worst offensive games of the season.”
After opening the season with a 36-25 win over Hico Nov. 11, the Lady Cubs dropped a 45-28 decision to Bosqueville before hosting the annual Clifton Tournament Nov. 16-18.
“As we prepared to host the Clifton Tournament, our main goal was to compete well in front of the home crowd, against some competition that we usually do not get to play against,” Villalpando said. “A majority of the athletes had only had a week of basketball as they wrapped up a great volleyball season on Nov. 2. It was good to play five games in three days to get our basketball legs underneath us.”
Opening the tournament by thrilling the jam-packed home crowd in the Clifton High School Gymnasium with a wild 33-31 victory over Blooming Grove, the Lady Cubs made it two straight by dismantling Class 4A Hillsboro, 42-33. Woosley score a team-high 13 points against Blooming Grove, while senior Reagan Thomas and Woosley scored eight points each against Hillsboro.
“I was pleased with the way the team competed throughout the entire tournament,” Villalpando said. “We played some close, competitive games, which is going to help us later on this season. We were able to come back and win one of those games, which was huge for the team.”
After Anderson-Shiro handed Clifton its first loss of the tournament, 44-34, the Lady Cubs bounced back to overwhelm Rosebud-Lott, 38-20, before losing to undefeated tournament champion Franklin, 44-13.
“The two teams that we lost to in the tournament, Anderson-Shiro and Franklin, are great teams,” Villalpando said. “Both of them were playoff teams last year, so it was a good experience for us to battle with them. Franklin went undefeated in the tournament, and won the tournament.
“We accomplished what we wanted to accomplish coming into the tournament. We wanted to use the tournament to get us into basketball shape with half of the team being fresh out of volleyball season. Also, I would like to congratulate our junior varsity team, which won the junior varsity division of our tournament.”
Photos by SIMONE WICHERS-VOSS
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