Junior post Antiesha Brown goes up over three Valley players for two points during the first half of Monday’s Plateau Holiday Classic quarterfinal game at Rock Staubus Gym.

The Clovis High girls basketball team recovered quickly after falling behind. In the end, they made enough plays down the stretch to advance to the semifinals of the Plateau Holiday Classic.

Junior post Antiesha Brown, sophomore post Ashlee Pierson and senior guard Brittany Johnson combined for 48 points and 22 rebounds, and the Lady Wildcats knocked off Valley 64-51 Monday at Rock Staubus Gym.

Playing at home for the first time this season, the Lady Cats (6-3) now get neighboring Class 2A power Texico (8-2) in today’s 6 p.m. semifinal matchup. The Lady Wolverines dispatched Gadsden 40-27 in Monday’s first round.

Brown scored 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds, Pierson came off the bench for 15 and seven and Johnson finished with 13 and seven. The Lady Cats saw a 14-point lead late in the third quarter cut to four with less than three minutes left, but ended the game on an 11-2 run.

“That’s a pretty decent team,” first-year CHS coach Jeff Reed said of the Vikings (4-2), who hadn’t played since Dec. 9. “They just wouldn’t go away, but we did what we had to do to win the game.”

Valley went 7-for-17 from 3-point range to keep it fairly close. The Vikings got 3-pointers from Alicia Lovato and Angel Reyes to open an 8-2 lead in just over four minutes, but Pierson scored two baskets in the final 25 seconds of the period to put Clovis in front for good 12-10.

Brown scored 11 of her points in the third period as the Lady Cats built on a four-point halftime lead. Pierson and Johnson then scored seven points each in the final stanza.

“We blew them out during the summer, but they were ranked higher (in Class 5A) than us so we knew we had to play our best,” said Brown, who went 8-for-15 from the floor. “I think it was a great first home game for us.”

Clovis finished at 55 percent from the floor on 24-of-44, with Pierson going 7-for-10 and Johnson 4-for-8. They also held a 26-22 edge on the boards after getting outrebounded 7-2 in the first period.

“I’d really like to put a team like that away (earlier),” Reed said. “I think we had chances, but I’ll take the win.”

Brown admitted her team may have gotten more than it expected from the Vikings.

“It was kind of surprising,” she said of Valley’s outside shooting. “We kept on losing our people. I think we maybe underestimated their outside shooting ability.”

Reyes, a 5-foot-3 junior guard, had three of the Vikings’ 3-pointers and finished with 17 points. Also in double figures for Valley was junior guard Ashley Martinez with 10 points.