Rubi Davilla drives the lane on a layup attempt.
The Lady Dark Horses were on home court Tuesday night, inching ever so closer to the end of the regular season, Tuesday marking their final home match-up against St. Pauls. The first meeting between these two teams just a couple weeks ago wasn’t a pleasant one for Clinton as the Lady Bulldogs shredded them 66-44. Needless to say, Clinton was looking for a better performance this time around. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case as St. Pauls dominated yet again to grab the 61-27 victory.
Clinton won the opening tip and went right to work, getting a quick jumper that just missed off the rim. Down on the other end, St. Pauls got the first score of the game, taking a 2-0 lead. Ciara Stuart got a jumper to fall just a few moments later, and the score rested at 2-2 briefly. After overcoming some sloppy play, the Lady Bulldogs hit back-to-back 3-pointers and went on to open a 15-2 lead, prompting a timeout from the Lady Dark Horses with 1:17 left in the first quarter. Out of the break, the score remained unchanged and was still 15-2 heading into the second.
Another three from St. Pauls at the beginning of the second made it 18-2. For Clinton, they were having an impossible time getting shots to fall as shot after shot clanked off the rim. Even easy chip-ins were a no-go as the lead continued to climb. After the lead hit 22-2, Jianna Pickett finally broke the Lady Dark Horses’ long scoring break. Just a couple moments later, she broke free following a steal and laid the ball in for two more points, making it 22-7 and with 3:31 left, there was a timeout on the court. Out of the break, the Lady Bulldogs continued to force the issue to re-extend their lead. By halftime, they had taken a 32-9 lead into the break.
The first possession of the second half was a turnover by Clinton. Down on the other end, St. Pauls got a quick layup for a start reminiscent of the beginning of the game. The Lady Dark Horses hit a quick little spurt at the start of the third quarter, jolting their score to 13 points quickly, but they again went dry as the Lady Bulldogs inched closer to a 30-point lead. St. Pauls did reach that threshold and led 47-16 at the end of the third quarter.
With the game well-decided in the fourth quarter, the only thing left to settle was the final score. On a couple of occasions, the Lady Bulldogs came within a possession of reaching the 40-point mercy rule threshold, but a mass substitution saw their second stringers come into the contest and Clinton was able to keep that from happening. Late in the game, the Lady Dark Horses placed their seniors on the court for one final time before the clock ran out. When all was said and done, St. Pauls had claimed the victory, 61-27.
Leading scorers for Clinton were Stuart with nine points, followed by Pickett with five. Daniyah Coxum, Janiya Mosley, Jayla Pickett, Larkin Best, Janiyah Simmons, and Evan Gillespie all had two points apiece. Phoenix Everett had one point.
With the loss, Clinton is now 15-8 overall and 6-3 in SAC-6 Conference play. They were set to hit the road to Fairmont on Friday night to close out the regular season before the conference tournament gets underway next week.