Clovis’ Amanda Romero goes up for a shot during the second quarter of Saturday’s game at Rock Staubus Gym.

Clovis’ Leia Willis passes under pressure by Goddard’s Brianna Garza during the second quarter of Saturday’s game at The Rock.

Roswell Goddard tried to get Clovis High’s girls to shoot 3-pointers, and early on they complied.

Then the Lady Wildcats started finding the basket, and in short order the game turned into a rout.

Antiesha Brown scored 19 points and Brittany Johnson added 18 Saturday night as the Lady Cats pulled away in the second half for a 68-49 win at Rock Staubus Gym, their eighth consecutive win and 13th in 14 games.

But it didn’t come all that easily. Clovis (17-4), facing a team it beat by 30 points one week earlier, led 28-21 at halftime despite shooting only 29 percent from the floor, including 3-of-20 from 3-point range.

Then, just as suddenly, the Lady Cats started to light it up. Johnson’s 3-pointer set the stage for a big second half in which Clovis shot 50 percent, converting 4-of-5 3-pointers in the third period.

“We weren’t penetrating (Goddard’s 2-3 zone in the first half) and looking for something else; we were just settling for long shots,” CHS girls coach Jeff Reed said. “Goddard came out with a different game plan.”

The Lady Rockets (4-16) took a pair of brief leads midway through the second quarter, but each time senior guard Leia Willis answered with a basket to put Clovis back in front. Then Willis hit her second 3-pointer of the quarter in the final minute to extend the margin to seven at halftime.

Clovis mounted a 14-0 run over a five-minute stretch of the third period to open a 21-point lead. It reached 30 points twice in the final period before Reed emptied his bench.

“The momentum went in their favor when they started hitting their shots and we started turning the ball over,” Lady Rockets coach Jori Flom said. “It was an improvement for us from last time; I felt like we played three (good) quarters tonight instead of just one.”

Brown, who shot 8-for-11 from the field and also had a team-high nine rebounds, said Friday’s long trip to Artesia may have had an impact.
“I’m not going to make excuses, but we came out really sluggish,” Brown said. “I think that bus ride took a toll on some of us.”

Senior guard Jadee Isler scored 10 of her 12 points in the second half for Clovis, while Willis finished with 11.

“We’re going to have to get used to that,” Reed said of Goddard’s attempts to take Brown out of the offense. “We’re going to have to find other ways to score.”

Senior forward Marissa Mapp scored Goddard’s first nine points and finished with a game-high 22, while senior guard Briana Garza added 15.