Clovis senior Antiesha Brown scored two of her game-high 24 points Friday a 62-42 win over Monument Valley in inaugural New Mexico/Arizona Challenge at Rock Staubus Gym.

Clovis guard Amanda Romero slips an entry pass past Monument Valley’s Nicolette Parish in inaugural New Mexico/Arizona Challenge.

Amanda Romero brought the sweets. She and Antiesha Brown also brought the shots.

Brown used a dominant third quarter to finish with a game-high 24 points, and Romero added a career-high 15 points to celebrate her 18th birthday as Clovis took a 62-42 victory over Monument Valley in Friday’s New Mexico/Arizona Challenge game at Rock Staubus Gym.

Katharine Cordova added eight for Clovis (10-3), which never trailed in blowing past a Lady Mustangs squad battling more than just the Lady Wildcats.

Assistant coach Michell Todecheene said two factors may have played a role in the sluggish start for Monument Valley (11-3) — the bus ride across two states, and the fact that she was coaching instead of head coach Robert Nash, who stayed home for what Todecheene called a medical emergency.

“I don’t know if it was the long trip or what; we went through our normal preparation,” Todecheene said. “We’ve just got to ho back and see what we did wrong.”

They’ll probably look at how they handled the Clovis pressure defense, which forced 26 turnovers and kept the Lady Mustangs dependent on junior forward Bradley Nash.

Nash, the only double-figure scorer, scored 10 of Monument Valley’s first 11 points. She was kept in despite foul trouble, Todecheene said, because it was the only chance to chip into a 30-16 halftime deficit — a deficit that became 37-16 when Brown started the third with seven unanswered points.

“I always seem to come alive in the second half,” Brown said. “I definitely get a pep talk at the half.”

Nash, who finished with 15 points, fouled out late in the third quarter, ending any Lady Mustangs hope.

Clovis, which has had trouble at times finding scorers to complement Brown, had no such problems with Romero hitting three corner treys on the way to her 15-point night.

“She shot the ball really well,” Clovis coach Jeff Reed said. “I told her, ‘It’s got to be your birthday every night.’”

Romero, who brushed off joking complaints from Reed about the size of his slice of birthday cake, gave the credit to the rest of the Lady Cats.

“We worked the ball pretty good,” Romero said. “That gave us a lot of open looks.”

Clovis faces Pinnacle in a 6 p.m. contest today, while Monument Valley takes on Portales at 3 p.m.