Clovis’ Jadee Isler makes a bounce pass to Antiesha Brown past two Clayton defenders during Friday’s girls matchup in the Portales Shootout.

Jadee Isler goes over Clayton’s Ashley Trujillo for a basket and draws a foul during the first half of Friday’s game in the Portales Shootout.

Due to a time mixup, the Clovis High girls basketball team had to wait about a half-hour to start their game against Clayton on Friday in the Portales Shootout.

It took the Lady Wildcats a while to get untracked when play did begin. Quickly, though, their pressure and athleticism took over and Clovis cruised to a 72-46 rout of the Class 2A Lady Jackets.

CHS (10-4) takes on Hot Springs in its final Shootout game at 4 p.m. today.

Junior post Antiesha Brown led four Clovis players in double figures with 22 points, and caused enormous problems for Clayton (10-3) by stepping into passing lanes and flicking balls away. Seniors Brittany Johnson (17), Jadee Isler (11) and Leia Willis (10) also reached double figures for Clovis.

Clayton attempted to press the Lady Cats early and led 8-6 near the middle of the first quarter, but Brown and sophomore Ashlee Pierson keyed a 13-0 run over the next two minutes that gave Clovis complete control.

Brown said the delay — Clayton thought the game was supposed to start at 4 p.m. instead of 3 p.m. — may have had something to do with the slow start.

“We got real warm and as we waited I think we got a little lazy,” said Brown, who was two points off her career scoring high set as a freshman. “But I think we really rattled them with our press, and it jump-started everything.”

The Lady Cats are adjusting to the loss of starting guard Katharine Cordova earlier this week to academics. Her absence means some players’ roles will be different.

“We all have to take up the slack,” Brown said. “Everybody’s going to have to step it up.”

CHS coach Jeff Reed said he’s still looking for more consistency from his team and not as much  reliance on athleticism.

“We got after them with our press a little bit,” Reed said. “But I don’t want to rely on our press; I want us to execute in whatever we’re in.

“It was good to get people some playing time, especially (junior post) Tiffany (Nichols),” he said, noting she recently returned from a knee injury. “She’s not caught up to the speed of the game yet.”

Junior post Ashley Trujillo led the Lady Jackets with 16 points.