Girls basketball: Clearview breaks through for season's first win

SHEFFIELD — Clearview started ice cold from the field Wednesday, but never lost confidence, kept shooting and fought its way to its first win of the season in a 49-38 victory over Lorain County League rival Brookside. The Clippers have faced a pair of tough back-to-back conference losses against Columbia and defending co-champion Firelands, but, as a young team, used that experience to their advantage. "We just had to keep working hard," Clearview sophomore Lexi Rodriguez said. "We had to have a few talks to build up our confidence and just play hard." Rodriguez led Clearview (1-3, 1-2 LCL) with 13 points and added six rebounds while Haley Hjerpe and Ariana Whitehead each had double-doubles — Hjerpe finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds and Whitehead with 11 points and 10 rebounds. The Clippers shooters, though, had a lot to make up for after missing plenty of shots in the first quarter. In fact, they didn't score their first points until a Whitehead layup at the 3:48 mark in the opening period. Coach Nick Dimacchia has encouraged his team to take the kinds of shots Clearview was taking, but there were one too many misses from wide open for his liking. The Clippers finished 16-of-65 from the field (4-of-22 from 3-point range). "We got a lot of good shots and we need to figure out a way to finish them," he said. "We missed a lot of layups and we missed a lot of open looks, but that's what we do — we just keep shooting and they come down because I've got some kids that can shoot. I don't discourage them from getting those shots up." The Brookside defense gave the Clippers trouble, too. The Cardinals (1-5, 0-3) got within two points late in the third quarter and put the pressure on Clearview, which responded by rushing its offense and turning the ball over. It was an effort Brookside coach Rich Flowers was proud of, and if the Cardinals hadn't shot just as poorly as Clearview, finishing 14-of-55, the end result could have looked much different. "Our hard work got us back in the game," Flowers said. "We pressured them. We decided to go man-to-man and half-court pressured them, turned them over a little bit, got some hustle buckets, got some 50-50 balls, but our shots just didn't fall." For Clearview, the valuable game experience is already paying off, but if the team wants to see any long-term success, Dimacchia said the Clippers can't play nearly as streaky as they did against Brookside. "I'm more concerned about the little things that we do at the end of a game to try to maintain the lead," he said. "It got a little sloppy. We have too many turnovers and we missed a lot of free throws. I think a couple of those things kind of extends that lead a little bit further, but I'm proud of the kids. "We need to figure out how to finish these games because when we're competing in tight games, there's certain things you need to do, and we're trying to teach them that stuff. We're getting there. We have a young team and we're making progress, but those things we need to clean up if we want to be successful." Contact Marissa McNees at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow her @MarissaNM on Twitter. Clearview 49, Brookside 38 CLEARVIEW (1-3): Lexi Rodriguez 4-4-13, Jarimar Ruiz 0-0-0, Leilani Rodriguez 0-0-0, Nevaeh Berrios 2-3-9, Adri Castro 0-0-0, Haley Hjerpe 4-2-11, Ariana Whitehead 4-3-11, Alyssa Caldera 0-0-0, Reina Ramos 2-1-5. Totals 16-13-49. BROOKSIDE (1-5): Haley Trowbridge 1-0-3, Myiah Sanchez 1-0-2, Hailey Rollins 0-0-0, Bri Slaughter 1-1-3, Bella Diaz 6-4-17, Brianna DeLeon 2-0-4, Mikayla Carriker 0-0-0, Alexis Powell 2-0-4, Madison Rankin 0-0-0, Alivia Diaz 1-0-3, Autumn Gutierrez 0-1-1, Mari Banjoff 0-0-0. Totals 14-6-38. Clearview&emsp;&emsp;7&emsp;&emsp;19&emsp;&emsp;9&emsp;&emsp;14&emsp;&emsp;—&emsp;&emsp;49 Brookside&emsp;&emsp;6&emsp;&emsp;11&emsp;&emsp;12&emsp;&emsp;9&emsp;&emsp;—&emsp;&emsp;38 Three-point goals: Clearview 4-22 (18 percent), Brookside 4-19 (21 percent). Field goals: Clearview 16-65 (25 percent), Brookside 14-55 (25 percent). Free throws: Clearview 12-27 (44 percent), Brookside 5-12 (42 percent). Rebounds: Clearview 50 (Hjerpe 11), Brookside 47 (B. Diaz 11). Total fouls: Clearview 12, Brookside 20. Turnovers: Clearview 14, Brookside 20. Junior varsity: Clearview, 18-12.