Girls basketball: Clovis West earns milestone victory; Reedley wins first crown in 40 years
The championship run just keeps going and going and going for the Clovis West High girls basketball team.
The Golden Eagles captured an 11th consecutive Central Section title with a 54-42 victory over Clovis in the Division I title game Saturday at Selland Arena.
The championship victory also ascended Clovis West coach Craig Campbell as the winningest girls basketball coach in Central Section history, according to section historian Bob Barnett.
“Some don’t understand, when you have the sustained success there is definitely some relief at the end of something like this,” Campbell said. “It’s a combination of both. There’s relief trying to continue ... we’re not trying to continue the streak. That always comes up this time of year, but just having the opportunity to close this out because it’s a special thing.
“They get the T-shirts, the trophies, the stage and confetti, you want them to experience that. To do it for 11 straight years is both a relief and amount of joy.”
Campbell has 425 wins, passing former Corcoran coach Doug White.
In total, the Golden Eagles have won 23 section titles.
This year’s championship was a rematch against Clovis, a program that entering Saturday appeared to present perhaps Clovis West’s toughest section final challenge during these past 11 years.
The Cougars beat the Golden Eagles 52-51 back in late January during their first meeting.
It was Clovis West’s first and only loss of the season. Now 30-1, the Golden Eagles are ranked No. 12 in the nation.
The loss seemed to motivate the Eagles over the following four weeks as Clovis West won its next seven games by an average of 27 points, which included a 53-39 win against Clovis to end the regular season.
The Eagles locked up their eight straight victory by beating the Cougars in the rubber match at Selland Arena.
Athena Tomlinson played poised throughout with her defensive prowess while also leading the with 14 points.
Clovis West pulled away by outscoring Clovis 18-12 in the second quarter and 21-16 in the third quarter.
“Just euphoria,” Tomlinson said of winning. “You work so hard every day. You’re in a lot of down and back (drills) ... (facing) adversity during practice.
“Sometimes, we’re so frustrated at each other, like we don’t know what we’re going to do and how we’re going to win. But to be able to get through it and come out on top is an amazing feeling.”
Other girls finals: Reedley wins first title since 1983
Reedley won the fourth section title in school history with a 54-44 victory over Arvin in Division V.
The last time Reedley won a section title was 1983, Barnett said.
Arvin was in the game throughout and Pirates coach Mike Pallesi reminded his team that the Bears likely would not go away.
“Evenly matched teams,” he said. “I think we got a couple breaks. We just made some shots and they didn’t.”
Pallesi retired from coaching the Selma boys program in 2021. At Selma, he took the team to three section championship appearances, winning the title in the 2016-2017 season, with son Will alongside.
Now, daughter Emily can say the same as she finished with 12 points. Leading Reedley was Raquel Cortez, who scored 18.
▪ Division III, Bakersfield Christian 57, Porterville 45: The Eagles won the section title for the first time in school history.
This story was originally published February 25, 2023 at 11:02 PM.
