Reagan Stermer scored 20 points including an onslaught of three-pointers in the fourth quarter to help propel Buchanan over Clovis High 66-58 on Friday night.
Stermer made three, three-pointers in a 20-point fourth quarter that helped Buchanan breakaway from the Cougars. The two teams had rarely let the other get too far ahead before the Bear’s began their game-winning fourth-quarter drive.
Throughout the game, the Bears made nine three-pointers and attempted a handful more. Attacking from beyond the arc was “not necessarily” in the team’s game plan, though, head coach Adam Wall said.
“We try to teach our kids just how to play basketball and understand concepts, specific plays, and different things. We shoot a lot of threes, it’s who we are, but at the end of the day, we take what the defense gives us and early in the game they were giving us some of those shots,” Wall said.
Like any coach, Wall was able to find areas of his team’s game that needed to be improved. In this case for the Bears, it was the team’s performance from the free-throw line. The Bears ended the game 13/21 from the line, good enough for 61 percent.
“I kind of wish we were getting to the free-throw line more and making free throws, but at the end of the day it worked on,” Wall said.
Buchanan’s Ashtyn Arnold scored 19 points and Olivia Garcia added 12 points to the Bear’s total. This win is a redemption win for the Bears who fell to Clovis High, at Clovis 45-43 earlier in the season – a lack of offensive production was certainly not a factor in this game.
Megan Esler with 16 points was the top scorer for Clovis. Kiley Butchert was close behind with 15 points in the game. For the Cougars, this is just their second loss in league play after falling to Clovis West who lead the TRAC.