The Clovis High Girls basketball team moved one step closer to the Division II State Championship on Saturday night. The Cougars are now one win away from the championship game after they defeated Del Oro 70-63 in a closely-contested match.
Kiley Butchert had 16 points on the night, but the shot of the night came from Chloe Van Ness, who nailed a three-point shot with 35 seconds left to play. That shot gave the Cougars’ their game-clinching seven-point lead.
“I think we played really hard tonight, the girls played together and followed the game plan,” Clovis High head coach Greg Clark said after the game.
Clovis High was able to play well under the net, as well as make crucial rebounds in the final quarter. The Cougars’ were also able to protect their lead when it mattered. Del Oro had eliminated a seven-point lead twice during the game.
The Cougars’ strong run to the finish of the game began with an inbound throw to Butchert, who escaped her defensive protection and cut to the net without a challenge. Her easy layup put the Cougars on the right path for the final minutes of the game.
“That’s a designed play that we run, we’re usually successful with it. We let Kiley [Butchert], our fastest player, try to just outrun the other girls and it worked out, so that was good,” Clark said of the play.
Clovis will now play in the Northern Regional final, a win there means the Cougars’ will play in the State Championship against the winner of the Southern Division.
“The excitement ramps up…” Clark said when asked about the team’s emotions as they get deeper into this postseason run. The Cougars have a mix of veteran players who have been in this situation before – but even those girls never got as far as this year’s team.
Two years ago, the Cougars were defeated in the Northern Region Semi-final. Now in the Northern Regional championship, they’re in uncharted waters for everyone.
The team will make a couple of changes dependent on their opponent, Clark said. “We do things based on the other team so we will game plan and scheme for them, put in just a little bit of tweaks,” he described.
Chloe Van Ness had 15 points in the game – all of them from beyond the arc, including the aforementioned shot that all but ended the game in the final minute.
Avery Evans and Kelsey Delgado each added 12 points to the Cougars’ total.
While the Clovis student and fan sections of the grandstands were packed, there was a special guest Clark made sure to stop by after the game: his elderly father who can only make it to a few games a year. Clark took a few minutes to speak with him after the game, as well as pose for a few photos.
The Cougars’ girls basketball team is not the only team that was looking to keep its state championship hopes alive. The Cougars’ girls’ soccer team, which won the state NorCal regional championship, was honored at the conclusion of the second quarter.
The Northern Regional Final will be played on March 10 at 7 pm, the outcome of the other semi-final match will determine if the game is played at Clovis or on the road.