McClave Weekly Sports Recap, February 12, 2014

McClave’s basketball teams went a combined 3-1 last week, with the lone loss being suffered by the boys, who had entered the week ranked #4 in the polls. The Lady Cards picked up wins over Cheyenne Wells and Walsh, while the Cards bounced back from a loss to the sixth-ranked (at the time) Tigers to defeat Walsh in a close one.

The Lady Tigers took an 8-7 lead over McClave at the end of last Friday’s contest, but by the intermission, it was McClave enjoying a 20-19 edge. The Lady Cards stepped up the defense, which in turn generated offense in the second half, and they rolled to the 46-27 victory. Sarah Zamora had her break-out game of the season, pumping in a game-high 21 points.

Peighton Martin took on the scoring load against Walsh the following night. The sophomore tossed in 15 points as she helped the Lady Cardinals pull away from the Lady Eagles for a 37-27 victory. McClave improved to 10-5 on the season and the Lady Cards will take a three-game winning streak into this weekend’s home games against Granada and Flagler. McClave will host the Lady Bobcats on Valentine’s Day, and the Lady Panthers make the trip in on Saturday.

Friday night’s contest between the Cardinals and Tigers had two of the top six teams in the Colorado Preps Class 1A poll, so it came as no surprise that the game would go down to the wire. Neither team could gain much separation throughout the contest, and it was a late three-point basket that gave Cheyenne Wells a 49-48 advantage. McClave had several shots at taking the lead back in the closing seconds, and even had a three in the air at the horn that would have given the Cards the victory, but that shot came up short. TJ Trujillo led McClave with 17 points in the loss, that dropped the Cards to fourth place in the High Plains League.

McClave had to get right back on the beam the next night, hosting a scrappy Walsh team that was itching to send the Cardinals on their first losing streak of the season. That would not happen, as McClave eked out a hard-fought 35-32 victory over the Eagles, behind Taylor Geisinger’s 12 points.

McClave is 12-3 on the season, and ranked fifth in the polls this week. The Cardinals will host Granada on Valentine’s Day, and they will welcome Flagler to town on Saturday.

By Kerry Sherman

Kerry Sherman and his wife, Colleen, moved to Lamar in August of 2013, from Anton, Colorado, to cover Southeastern Colorado high schools for Colorado Preps. Kerry is in his third year of streaming high school sports online for Colorado Preps, and this is his 23rd year of covering high schools for various print and online outlets throughout Colorado. He also has nine years of coaching experience, with the boys basketball programs at Woodlin and Otis.