Gracie Caperton scored 18 points and Madeline Underwood added 12 over her own to lead the Clyde girls basketball team to a 58-18 win over Cooper in a nondistrict matchup Tuesday at Cougar Gym.
In all, eight Lady Bulldogs scored as the visitors dominated the Lady Cougars on both ends of the floor.
Fueled by that balanced attack that saw five players score at least five points and an active zone on defense, Clyde raced out to a 13-2 first-quarter lead and only added to its advantage the rest of the way in improving to 7-3 on the season.
“I thought the girls, coming off Thanksgiving break, did a really good job,” coach Reagan Sewell said. “That was kind of our focus in practice yesterday, we knew we needed to get off to a great start. That’s something we’ve been working on. We haven’t typically done that; we’ve gotten off to really slow starts in a lot of games. So I was really proud of the quick start tonight.”
The tone for a lopsided outcome was set in the opening minutes, as the Lady Bulldogs scored the game’s first eight points and limited Cooper to just a single bucket in the first period.
Clyde then followed that with a 16-8 run through the second quarter to cruise into halftime with a comfortable 29-10 lead.
Taking advantage of a substantial size advantage inside, the Lady Bulldogs turned second and sometimes third chances into paint points and free-throw opportunities to establish and maintain control throughout the night.
“That’s something that we’re really keying on this year with our team,” Sewell said. “We know we have a size advantage in a lot of games, so we’re really focusing on that. Our offense is really set to work the ball down low, and you saw that a lot tonight, especially with our big girl (Underwood). She struggled a little bit putting the ball in the basket, but overall I thought we did a really good job of dominating the middle and dominating down low.”
Up big at halftime, Clyde put the game completely out of reach in the third quarter, outscoring Cooper 14-0 to push ahead 43-10 by the start of the final period. And the fourth quarter was more of the same, as the Lady Bulldogs closed the game on a 15-8 run.
Using its zone, Clyde made everything difficult for the Lady Cougars inside, forcing Cooper (0-12) to do the bulk of its limited scoring from the perimeter.
Coach Brandon Hudson’s team managed just seven field goals for the game, and only three of those came from inside the 3-point arc.
“Our zone is really designed to be kind of like a half-court press, so we like to extend it,” Sewell said. “I thought the girls did a really good job with that — just protecting the middle, protecting the corners and really closing out well on their shooters.”
In addition to the production provided by Caperton and Underwood, the Lady Bulldogs got seven points apiece from Kyler King and Iley Underwood and five points from Mikayla Kinslow.
Cooper, meanwhile, was led by Marcaela Washington with eight points and Payton Ellis with six. But only two other Lady Cougars cracked the scoring column, finishing with one bucket each.
With Tuesday’s win, Clyde has now reversed last season’s 3-7 start. And Sewell said he’s seen a lot to like through his team’s first 10 games.
“I’ve seen a lot of growth with this group,” the Clyde coach said. “We had a really good summer of basketball, and I felt really confident that this group was going to turn the corner and start doing things a lot better.
“That was win number seven tonight. That hasn’t happened at Clyde on the girls side in a long time. We had two wins over Thanksgiving break, really close wins where they had to battle. Those games last year would have gotten out of hand, and there’s now way we would have come back.
“So as far as what they’re doing right now, there’s just been a lot of growth and there’s a lot of confidence right now.”
NONDISTRICT
CLYDE 58, COOPER 18
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Final | ||
| Clyde | 13 | 16 | 14 | 15 | — | 58 |
| Cooper | 2 | 8 | 0 | 8 | — | 18 |
Clyde (7-3) — Morgan Mauldin 0 0-0 0, Kyler King 2 2-2 7, Mikayla Kinslow 2 0-0 5, Gracie Caperton 6 5-17 18, Madeline Underwood 5 3-6 12, Iley Underwood 3 0-2 7, Brookelyn Zeigler 2 0-0 4, Alexa Tenaglia 1 0-0 2, Peyton Wilcoxen 0 0-0 0, Belinda Sanchez 1 1-2 3, Brianna Wright 0 0-0 0, Kaydi Edwards 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 11-29 58.
Cooper (0-12) — Ciara Jackson 0 0-0 0 Jaedah Titus 1 0-0 2, Marcaela Washington 3 0-0 8, D’aushanaye Murray 0 0-2 0, Mauriyana Payne 1 0-2 2, Melynie Peel 0 0-2 0, Payton Ellis 2 0-0 6. Totals 7 0-6 18.
3-Point Goals — Clyde 3 (King 1, Kinslow 1, I.Underwood 1); Cooper 4 (Washington 2, Ellis 2). Fouled Out — None. Technical Fouls — None. Total Fouls — Clyde 13; Cooper 24.