Lower Lake teams sweep Lower Lake Classic; Cards finish second in Calistoga, Knights win
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HEALDSBURG >> Mia Hoogendoorn scored the first 11 points for Middletown and Sarah Fetters the last nine as the understrength Mustangs had no problem beating Tamalpais 55-31 in the girls consolation championship game of the 75th annual Redwood Empire Invitational Basketball Tournament Saturday afternoon in Healdsburg.
Middletown (7-2) closed out a solid REIBT run with wins in its final two games against Ukiah and Tamalpais, that after an opening-round loss to eventual tournament champion Justin-Siena.
“We stuck with our regular game plan and did what we do best,” Middletown head coach Roxi Holt said as the Mustangs suited up only six players because of injury (freshman Izzi Hoogendoorn missed the game with a concussion). “I’m proud of how they’ve played all week.”
It was a four-game week for the Mustangs, who went 3-1, including a win in their North Central League I opener Tuesday at Cloverdale, a showdown between last year’s two NCL I co-champions. They have three more games next week, including a league game this Tuesday in Kelseyville.
While Hoogendoorn was picking Tamalpais clean on offense and defense all game – she scored her team’s first 11 points and 13 overall during a 15-point first quarter and finished with 27 – her teammates also were doing their part. Harley Holley added 12 points and a host of rebounds while Fetters added 11 points.
“That was huge for her,” Holt said of Fetters’ big game. “She can really play anywhere for me. It was an all-around team effort.”
Suiting up only six, the Mustangs needed to stay out of foul trouble, and they did that against a Tamalpais team that tried to work the ball inside early only to find that wasn’t going to work out well. Hoogendoorn recorded a handful of steals and the Mustangs as a team clogged up the passing lanes while making life pretty miserable for the Hawks’ offense, which ended up relying on a handful of long shots with minimal success.
“I was very pleased with their play,” Holt said of the Mustangs. “Without Izzi we were really thin, but the rest of them were up to it.”
Jaylee Doris also had four points for the Mustangs.
Hoogendoorn was named to her third straight Redwood Empire Invitational All-Tourney team. She had 19 points at halftime as Middletown took a 30-18 lead into the intermission. The Hawks were never closer than 10 points in the second half, and then only briefly.
In other girls basketball action Saturday:
Willits 38, Clear Lake 29
At Calistoga, Willits jumped out to a 20-9 lead and went on to beat the Clear Lake Cardinals in the championship game of the Gene Duffy Holiday Classic at Calistoga High School.
All-Tournament selection Jazmin Wiebusch scored 11 points to lead the Cardinals (4-3) and Faith McIntire added 9 points and 11 rebounds. Emily Gersalia pulled down 10 rebounds and had four steals while Kam Cresto contributed eight rebounds.
Willits took a 26-12 lead into halftime and a 32-21 advantage into the fourth quarter.
Clear Lake returns home Tuesday to play Upper Lake in league action.
Kelseyville 43, Gridley 38
At Oroville, Matisyn Mateer’s stellar play on defense helped slow down Gridley star center Brooke Marr and the Kelseyville Knights beat the Bulldogs in a final-round game of the 12-team Oroville Tournament.
“We finished a very competitive three-day tournament against three tough opponents with a win, finishing 2-1,” Kelseyville head coach Tim Conrad said. “Once again, our defense was fantastic. A huge shoutout to Mati Mateer on the defensive end. Gridley has a very good, skilled center. We knew going in that our intention was to slow her down. Mati sacrificed her stats to defend her and do what’s best for the team. We knew we weren’t going to stop her, but we wanted to slow her down. She was able to finish with 17 points, but it could have been more than 30 if Mati and the weakside defense hadn’t played her so tough.”
Marr is averaging 23.3 points a game for Gridley.
Kelseyville’s offense, which has struggled in the early going, generated enough points to put the Knights (3-5) into the win column.
“Briana Davis and AJ Wurm were big sparks for us as well,” Conrad said.
Wurm finished with a team-best 11 points while Davis, named to the All-Tourney team, had six points and five steals. Nyejzniya Krohn added nine points and Cali Schnabl had six.
“Bella (Patti) got us a really big jumper late when we were struggling to score,” Conrad said.
“This was an encouraging three days of tough games for us,” Conrad added. “I feel like we are turning a corner both physically and mentally. This is a fun group of girls we have in orange and block.”
Kelseyville hosts defending league champion Middletown on Tuesday.
Lower Lake 50, Point Arena 34
Upper Lake 34, Lower Lake 28
At Lower Lake, in the round-robin Lower Lake Classic, Lower Lake, Upper Lake and Point Arena all finished with 2-1 records, which resulted in a points tiebreaker deciding the top two places. Lower Lake came in first and Upper Lake second.
Maxwell, the fourth varsity team, finished 0-3.
Against Point Arena, Brooke Benson led a balanced Lower Lake attack with 10 points and 10 rebounds, Irianna Milano added nine points while Ayla Ales and Mary Watson each had eight. Brooke Watson had six.
“We played a great game defensively,” Lower Lake head coach Shannon Tubbs said. “The game plan was executed well. On offense, the ball moved a lot, and people made the most of it.”
Upper Lake spoiled a perfect tournament for the host Trojans with a win in the late varsity game. Benson again led the Trojans with eight points and Mary Watson had seven. Jamiya Lee-Ayers pulled down a team-best eight rebounds.
Upper Lake scoring wasn’t reported.
“The team is playing a pretty active game defensively game in and game out,” Tubbs said. “We are struggling with team chemistry and it’s almost like Jekyll and Hyde game to game. Hope we can figure it out and fix the underlying issues going forward.
Mary Watson was named the tournament’s most valuable player while Lower Lake teammates Benson and Lee-Ayers were named to the All-Tournament team.
Lower Lake (4-4) hits the road Tuesday to play Fort Bragg in NCL I action.
Upper Lake (2-4) also beat Maxwell in tournament action Saturday in Lower Lake. The final score and other team statistics were not reported to Lake County Sports. Aimee Schaefers and Kali Minnis were named to the All-Tournament team.
Lower Lake JVs 53, Clear Lake JVs 27
Lower Lake JVs 50, Maxwell JVs 16
Clear Lake JVs 31, Upper Lake JVs 16
Clear Lake JVs 39, Point Arena JVs 26
At Lower Lake, in the junior varsity bracket of the Lower Lake Classic, host Lower Lake (7-2) capped off a 3-0 tournament run with wins Saturday over Clear Lake and Maxwell.
In the win over Clear Lake, Lily Milano and Madelyn Garner led the way with 17 and 12 points, respectively, and Brookylnn Tubbs had nine.
“Once we got going the flow of the game felt a lot better,” Lower Lake head coach Jessica Wiley said. “We had excellent ball movement in the second half to break down their zone.”
Avery Fiske led Clear Lake with nine points and Camara Wittman had eight.
In Lower Lake’s win over Maxwell, Olivia Paul scored 12 points, Garner added 10 and Khaya Chaney had seven.
“We were able to rotate through the entire bench, which gave some girls the opportunity to see quality floor time,” Wiley said.
Chaney was named tournament MVP while Tubbs and Garner joined her on the All-Tournament team.
In Clear Lake’s win over Upper Lake, Fiske led the Cardinals with 10 points and Wittman had six. In the victory over Point Arena, Fiske led the way with 12 points and Amy Barrigo-Rico had eight.
Middletown JVs 39, Healdsburg JVs 38
At Willits, the Middletown JV girls team finished off a 3-0 showing at the Willits Tournament with a one-point victory over Healdsburg in the championship game.
Thaly Rodrigues led the Mustangs (6-4) with 14 points while tournament MVP Ally Cherry added 12 points and All-Tourney selection Chloe Pulido had seven points.
Middletown beat Round Valley 55-14 and Ferndale 51-48 in the first two rounds of the tournament. Cherry led the team with 10 points against Round Valley while Rodrigues and Allison Taber each had eight. In the win over Ferndale, Cherry scored 18 points, Pulido had 10 and Rodrigues eight.
PHOTO: All-Tourney selection Mia Hoogendoorn scored her team’s first 11 points and 13 in the first quarter of a 55-31 victory over Tamalpais in the consolation championship game of the 75th annual Redwood Empire Invitational Basketball Tournament on Saturday in Healdsburg. (Photo by Brian Sumpter)
