The Lady Eagles played their best hoops of the young season at the annual Orland Invitational Basketball Tournament on Dec. 13-15, winning all three games to claim the first place trophy.
Cloverdale began the week with a tough 68-41 loss to a strong Montgomery squad, but swept the Orland tourney with dominant victories over Las Plumas (56-19), Paradise (65-29) and Etna (72-47).
The tournament victory was enriched when Cloverdale presented the Paradise team with gift cards and Christmas stockings donated by Washington School teachers, staff, coaches and players. The stockings were made and donated by Sue and Tex Dicken.
“Paradise was very thankful for the gifts,” Eagle’s coach Rick Berry said. “All of them lost their homes and personal belongings in the Camp Fire.”
Eagles soar in Orland
Cloverdale sent an early message in the Orland tourney opener on Dec. 13 against Las Plumas, racing to a 25-3 lead after one. The Eagles never looked back en route to a 56-19 romp.
Pacing the scoring attack were Tehya Bird (22 points, 9 rebounds), Catherine Driver (8 points 5 assists), Kayli Persons (6 points, 2 assists), Marina Lopez (5 points), Alyssa Moffett (5 points, 2 assists, 2 steals), Morgan Sceales (4 points, 4 rebounds), Kaylee King (3 points, 8 rebounds), Ahnna Randolph (3 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists) and Maci Hernandez (4 rebounds).
The ladies squared off with Paradise in Friday’s game two, again jumping out to a huge, 31-11 halftime cushion before coasting to an eventual 65-29 rout.
Leading scorers included Bird (18 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals), Persons (12 points, 5 assists, 3 steals), Randolph (10 points, 5 rebound, 3 assists, 3 steals), Lopez (10 points, 4 steals), Moffett (5 points, 5 rebounds, 1 steal), Driver (5 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 steals), King (2 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals) and Hernandez (2 points, 4 rebounds).
Cloverdale met Etna in Saturday’s tourney championship tilt, using another fast start to grab a 28-23 halftime advantage. Led by a sensational outing by Bird, the Eagles put the hammer down after intermission in cruising to a 72-47 win.
Bird locked up Tournament Most Valuable Player honors with a game-high 28 points, five rebounds, two assists and three steals. Also in the scoring column were Persons (19 points, 5 threes, 5 assists, 3 steals), Driver (13 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals), Lopez (8 points), Hernandez (2 points, 4 rebounds), Randolph (2 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals), King (2 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals), Sceales (3 rebounds, 1 assist) and Moffett (6 rebounds, 1 steals).
“It was our best game as a team so far and we’ve shown improvement in every game,” Berry noted. Etna is a very good team — it was a rematch of last year’s final in which Etna won by 10.”
Driver was also named to the all-tournament squad for Cloverdale.
