The Lady Eagles turned in a solid showing at the 70th annual Redwood Empire Invitational Basketball Tournament in Healdsburg on Dec. 5-8, notching two wins in three outings to claim the Consolation trophy.
Cloverdale opened the REIBT with a 60-44 loss to Ukiah, but rebounded with subsequent wins over Clear Lake (52-35) and El Molino (59-44).
Overall, the tournament proved to be a good litmus test for a young, budding Eagle’s squad.
“We definitely are getting better — we have a new team not used to playing with each other,” veteran coach Rick Berry said. “We’re very young with four sophomores and we’ll have some growing pains. Our defense has to improve if we want to compete for league,” he added.
Eagles take two
Cloverdale squared off against a strong Ukiah squad in the REIBT opener on Dec. 5, hanging tough to trail by just 28-23 at the half. The Wildcats busted it wide open with a 19-4 third-quarter run en route to a 60-44 win.
Pacing the Cloverdale offense were Tehya Bird (15 points, 9 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 assist), Kayli Persons (15 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 6 steals), Ahnna Randolph (6 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist), Maci Hernandez (2 points, 4 rebounds), Alyssa Moffett (2 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal), Marina Lopez (2 points, 1 rebound), Angelina Cordova (2 points), Kaylee King (1 point, 1 rebound) and Catherine Driver (2 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal).
The ladies were back in the win column in Friday’s game two against Clear Lake, breaking open a 19-all halftime deadlock with a strong second half on their way to a 52-35 win. Top scorers were Bird (26 points, 15 rebounds, 2 assists, 6 steals), Randolph (8 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists), Persons (7 points, 2 rebounds, 3 steals), King (5 points, 2 rebounds, 2 steals), Lopez (4 points, 1 rebound, 2 steals) and Moffett (2 points, 2 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal).
Cloverdale faced El Molino for the Consolation title on Saturday, again breaking open a tight game with a great second half en route to a 59-44 victory.
Bird earned all-tourney honors with a sensational 29 points, 15 boards, two assists and six steals. Other top contributors were Persons (12 points, 2 rebounds, 3 steals), Randolph (6 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists), Driver (4 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals), King (4 points, 2 rebounds, 2 steals), Lopez (3 points, 1 rebound, 2 steals), Hernandez (1 point, 6 rebounds) and Morgan Sceales (1 rebound).
The Eagles (3-2) will hit the road for the Orland Tournament on Dec. 13-15.
