HOME FOR HOLIDAY HOOPS

Playing in Clifton Girls Basketball Tournament, Clifton Lady Cubs hold off Slidell in third place showdown, prepare to host rival West for District 17-3A opener

Hoping to build some momentum coming out of a six-day layoff for the Christmas break before embarking on the District 17-3A race, the Clifton Lady Cubs stayed home for the holidays. By hosting the annual Clifton Tournament last Thursday and Friday, the Lady Cubs took advantage of some home cooking to claim third place.

Despite getting off to a slow start, the Lady Cubs finished the tournament with three straight wins. And with that, Clifton (10-9) appears poised and ready to make a run at returning to the postseason when the Lady Cubs open district competition by hosting the West Lady Trojans (5-9) at 6:15 p.m. Friday.

After opening the tournament with a somewhat lackluster 56-31 loss to Pool A winner Maypearl last Thursday afternoon, the Lady Cubs bounced back for a convincing 41-20 victory over the Yarrambat Phantoms of Australia Thursday evening.

By closing out pool play with a dominating 50-16 victory over the Meridian Lady Jackets last Friday morning, Clifton advanced to the third place showdown with the Slidell lady Greyhounds Friday afternoon. With junior Avary Woosley and sophomore Brystel Wise tossing in 10 points apiece, the Lady Cubs clawed their way to a solid 47-37 victory.

“I was proud of the way the girls responded,” Clifton girls basketball head coach Mario Villalpando said. “Coming off the break, we opened up with a pretty tough opponent in Maypearl. We were a little sluggish, and it took a little while to get back into it. But we responded with three hard fought wins and improved. And most importantly, it got us ready to open up district Friday.”

By outscoring the Lady Greyhounds (13-6), 15-5, in the second period, Clifton opened up a nine-point lead and held on in the second half despite several Slidell attempts to rally. In other tournament action, Pool B winner and Class 4A China Spring dominated Maypearl, 66-36 in the championship game, while Yarrambat slipped past the Class 3A Anderson-Shiro Fighting Lady Owls for fifth place.

In a balanced team effort, junior Addison Martin led the Lady Cubs with seven rebounds along with seven points, while senior Delilah Martinez tossed in eight points. Woosley dished out a team-high four assists, while sophomore Natalia Gaona came up with three steals and scored seven points.

“They brought a lot of energy into the third place game that hadn’t been there before,” Villalpando said. “It kind of helped that they had a cheering squad from the Australian team, who they made friends with, which was cool. Their sportsmanship really showed in this tournament, and they helped us bring that intensity and energy to the court.”

In the dominating victory over Meridian, Martin led the Lady Cubs with 10 points and six assists, followed by Gaona with nine points, Wise with eight, along with Martinez and Woosley with six each. Against Yarrambat, Wise tossed in a team-high 12 points followed by Gaona with nine, while Martinez led the Lady Cubs with 20 rebounds and Martin dished out five assists.

“This sets the stage for district,” Villalpando said. “Our first district game against West here at home will be one of the toughest games we will have and we’re very familiar with that opponent. It’s great to carry the momentum from the tournament into this next week of practice to get prepared and ready to take care of West.”

While the Lady Cubs host West in the district opener on Friday, the Troy Lady Trojans (11-11) will host the Waco Harmony School of Innovation (0-10), while the McGregor Lady Bulldogs (6-7) visit the Whitney Lady Wildcats (3-14).

“Every game in the non-district and tournament season, we wanted to use to get us ready for district competition,” Villalpando said. “We had some good quality opponents scheduled throughout that stretch, and I believe it did just that.

“I see this team building on top of what we accomplished last year. The expectation of being a playoff team was re-established last season. And now, the goal is to be a team that advances multiple rounds in the playoffs. We’re excited to start district this week.”