Portales junior Macy Mitchell gets ready for a layup during practice at Portales High School gym.

Fourth-year Portales Lady Rams coach Clay Stout is looking for his first win against Clovis.

Portales (4-3) hosts the Lady Wildcats tonight in a rematch of a semifinal contest in the Mel Otero Invitational last weekend won by Clovis 33-22.

Stout is 0-4 against Clovis.

“For our part, we have to play smarter and be more fundamentally sound,” Stout said. “Clovis is very athletic and can do a lot things on the court. The one thing that I like about this season is that every team we have faced including Clovis has pressured us.”

Clovis (4-3) had a three-game win streak snapped with a loss to Roswell in the Mel Otero title game.

“We are very used to seeing the personnel that Portales has on the court,” Clovis coach Jeff Reed said. “The girls know each other and they have played each so many times in the past.”

Reed said junior Macy Mitchell, who scored eight points in the teams’ first meeting, is Portales’ top offensive threat.

“We want to try to keep their forwards from getting a good look at the basket,” Reed said. “We want to start running, gunning and pressing them because Portales likes to play a halfcourt game.”

Clovis junior post Paige Gardner scored 11 points in the first meeting, with six of those points coming in the fourth quarter. Junior guard Kirsti Shough hit two 3-pointers in the second quarter and finished with eight points.

“Clovis is going to make you work hard to recognize different defenses,” Stout said. “They’re going to pressure us and we have to work to see our players on the floor. I like playing Clovis because playing a team like them helps to make us a team better down the road.”