Lady Eagles preparing for winning hoops campaign

The Lady Eagles will kick off what promises to be a successful high school basketball season this week as the team takes the court in its first game.
At press time Cloverdale was preparing for a Nov. 26 clash at Rincon Valley Christian in Santa Rosa in the annual Foundation Game.  The ladies will participate in several pre-league tournaments this year, including the Stokes tourney in Kelseyville (Dec. 5-7), Ukiah (Dec. 12-14), St. Bernard’s in Eureka (Dec. 20-22), and the West Coast Jamboree (Dec. 28-30).
Led by veteran coach Rick Berry, the Eagles return seven players from last year’s NCS playoff squad, which finished the season with a second place league record of 10-2 and 20-8 overall.
Among the returning starters are veteran guards; three-year seniors Jazmin Orozco and Hannah Pope. Sophomore forward Angel Bernardi is another starter coming back from a year ago.   
Other key returnees include senior forward Shaylee Roberts, senior point guard Kirsten Villavicencio, senior forward Kelsi Sibert, and senior forward/center Amy Mora, who is returning after missing most of last season with an injury.
Promising newcomers to the varsity team are senior forward Viviana Martinez, sophomore guard Bailey Stewart, and junior guard Ariana Fernandez.
The Eagles will have a tough act to follow this season following a tremendous 2012/13 campaign, but the team is confident that skill and hard work will be the formula for another winning campaign.   
“Our goal is like always to compete well in our tough pre-season schedule against larger schools and to win league,” Berry said. “We want to qualify for the NCS playoffs.”