Middletown, Kelseyville girls tied for league lead with three games remaining
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FORT BRAGG >> It’s been a roller-coaster-type North Central League I ride for the Fort Bragg High School varsity girls basketball team this season.
The Timberwolves won their first three league games, lost their next four, but are currently riding a four-game winning streak after knocking off the first-place Middletown Mustangs 53-48 on Wednesday night in Fort Bragg.
Fort Bragg’s victory against a Middletown team minus two starters – Harley Holley, out with a knee injury, and Jordyn Harbison, out sick – left head coach Roxi Holt scrambling to put enough healthy bodies on the floor, which led to the call-up of two junior varsity players.
Not that the Timberwolves (7-4 league, 12-11 overall) were complaining. While their own title hopes are hanging by a thread as they now trail both Middletown (9-2, 16-6) and Kelseyville (9-2, 14-8) by two games in the NCL I standings with only three left to play, the Timberwolves created a decent logjam atop the standings as Cloverdale remains in the mix at 8-3.
Middletown, last season’s co-champion along with Cloverdale, could have put a stranglehold on the race with a victory as the Mustangs’ final three league opponents – St. Helena, Upper Lake and Clear Lake – all have losing records.
“At the end of the day it’s got to be more of a team effort,” Middletown head coach Roxi Holt said as the Mustangs, other than Mia Hoogendoorn’s 32 points, struggled to do much offensively against Fort Bragg. Jaylee Doris was the next highest scorer with six points while Izzi Hoogendoorn added five, three of those on a 3-pointer with 28 seconds left.
The two teams entered the fourth quarter tied 40-40.
“Ultimately, not having two starters was the difference,” Holt said. “We also had too many turnovers.”
Trailing 16-13 after one quarter, Middletown pushed ahead 26-22 by halftime.
Middletown is home Friday to play St. Helena (5-6), a loser of three straight. It’s part of a four-game set between the two schools.
Middletown did win the JV game 51-3 even with two of its starters moving up to help the varsity and another out sick.
“My reserve players needed to step up and they did in a big way,” Middletown head coach Daryl Dacosta said. “I went with a different starting lineup tonight and it worked out well for us and led to a great team win.”
Allyson Lopez led the way with 17 points while Brenna Goodloe added 10 and Emma Jones and Ally Cherry six each.
Middletown is 6-3 in league play and 12-8 overall.
In other girls action Wednesday:
Kelseyville 52, Upper Lake 37
At Upper Lake, with Middletown’s loss to Fort Bragg, the Kelseyville Knights moved back into a tie for first place after turning back the Upper Lake Cougars (1-10, 6-13).
Even if it wasn’t Kelseyville’s most inspired effort of the season, it got the job done, according to head coach Tim Conrad.
“On a night where both our JV and varsity girls didn’t come out with very much intensity, it was a struggle against a hungry Cougar team,” Conrad said.
“Briana (Davis) got into some early foul trouble, and we just had a tough time getting going on offense,” Conrad added. “Everybody has made adjustments to what we do defensively, and we keep having to adjust back.”
Leading just 22-21 at halftime, the Knights finally began to open it up during an 18-11 third quarter.
“Midway through the third quarter Mati Mateer (who was sick in the locker room before warmups) gave us a huge shot in the arm. She had nine points in the third, including five or six from the free-throw line. She settled us down and gave us a huge confidence boost. Olivia Hommer really started to get after it right after that as well. She pulled down some key rebounds and created four huge turnovers by way of a steal or on-ball pressure.”
Kelseyville got another boost in the fourth quarter from Cali Schnabl, according to Conrad.
“She led us in the fourth, kept us grounded and made sure we played smart down the stretch,” Conrad said.
The Knights were fully aware that Middletown had already lost to Fort Bragg.
“We knew Fort Bragg had beaten Middletown, and we wanted to make sure we capitalized on the opportunity,” Conrad said. “What’s awesome about our team is when one or two of our girls are out because they’re sick or injured, or just aren’t playing well, we have the rest of the team stepping up, picking each other up and excelling because they care so much about each other.
“It really is awesome to see a team full of girls that are about each other and team-first mentality,” Conrad added. “Down the stretch we are focused on one game at a time.”
Ashlyn (AJ) Wurm led a balanced Kelseyville attack with 15 points while Mateer finished with 11 points, Hommer with 10 points and nine rebounds, and Schnabl with seven points. Davis was held to four points but still contributed 10 rebounds, five steals, two blocks and three assists.
Upper Lake, minus its leading scorer on the season in Alyssa John (knee injury), was led by Naomi Poe’s 12 points, including three 3-pointers. Aimee Schaefers added six points, eight rebounds, four blocks and five assists, and Camila Martin had six points.
“We went into tonight’s game determined to not have a repeat of the first quarter of our last game against Kelseyville, and our girls gave them a run for it,” said Upper Lake coach Fawn Rave, who was referring to the 34-3 deficit the Cougars faced after the first quarter in a Jan. 10 game at Kelseyville. This time around they trailed only 13-9 after the opening period.
“We went into the first quarter strong and ready for Kelseyville’s defense, and the girls did a good job moving past it,” Rave said. “We went into halftime down one point. Third quarter Kelseyville pulled away and we just couldn’t catch back up.”
Rave praised the play of both Schaefers and Poe.
“Aimee Schaefers was definitely not feeling 100 percent but played a strong game defensively,” Rave said. “Naomi Poe had a great night.”
Kelseyville hosts Clear Lake in its final home game of the regular season Friday. The Knights close out league play next week against Cloverdale and Fort Bragg. Upper Lake hits the road to play Lower Lake on Friday.
In JV action, Kelseyville clinched the outright NCL I championship with a 38-11 win over Upper Lake while also winning their 20th game of the season. The Knights (10-0, 20-2) have a three-game lead over Lower Lake, Clear Lake and Middletown with only two games left.
“We had a slow start to the game, and we struggled with our shooting again tonight,” Kelseyville head coach Liz Berry said. “The girls had to work hard away from the ball to get our plays going, but our momentum and shots picked up in the second half.”
Jordyn Wurm’s double-double of 13 points and 16 rebounds led the Knights. Aubree Sperber finished with 10 points and six rebounds while Grace Hobbs added nine points, eight steals, seven rebounds and four assists.
Lower Lake 37, St. Helena 35
At Lower Lake, the St. Helena Saints nearly rallied from a 10-point deficit in the final two minutes, but the Lower Lake Trojans (3-8, 7-15) held on for the win.
Lower Lake started strong, jumping out to a 13-2 lead after one quarter and taking a 32-24 lead into the fourth quarter.
“I probably had a mild heart attack,” Lower Lake head coach Shannon Tubbs said of St. Helena’s late push. “I couldn’t get my girls to understand possession and time, then we had two turnovers that led to layups uncontested, one on a baseline inbounds under our hoop.”
Added Tubbs, “We played man all night, which we never do, and they did pretty good for it not being one of our bases.”
Brooke Benson, Brooke Watson and Aly Aguirre led the Trojans with seven points apiece. The balanced scored also included six points from Irianna Milano and five from Alyxa Milano. Benson also had a team-best nine rebounds.
Lower Lake hosts Upper Lake on Friday.
In JV action, Lower Lake rolled to a 66-10 win to improve to 7-3 in league play and 14-4 overall.
“We started the game with a strong shutdown press, setting the tone early,” Lower Lake head coach Jessica Wiley said. “Our bench saw more balanced playing time, contributing across the board.”
Madelyn Garner sank nine 3-pointers as part of a team-leading 31-point night.
“Madelyn Garner was on fire, sinking nine of 16 3-pointers, while our other guard, Leanna Ortega, helped control the offense and added some impressive shots of her own,” Wiley said. “The team played together seamlessly, reaching the level of performance we know they’re capable of.”
Ortega finished with 14 points and Lily Milano had 10.
Cloverdale 66, Clear Lake 47
At Lakeport, Amara Galvan took a big step in her late-season push to reach 1,000 career points, scoring a team-leading 28 to lead the Cloverdale Eagles past the Clear Lake Cardinals.
Galvan needs 40 points to hit 1,000 and has at least three games left to do it, and at least one smore if the Eagles reach the North Coast Section playoffs.
“Credit to Clear Lake who came out really strong, shot the ball well, and rebounded well,” Cloverdale head coach Mac Butler said. “They gave us a good test in quarter one.”
Cloverdale led 21-16 after the opening period, extending that lead to 34-21 by halftime and 55-30 through three quarters.
Emme Reason had 13 points and eight rebounds for the Eagles (8-3, 11-10), who are one game behind league leaders Kelseyville and Middletown.
Faith McIntire’s 19 points and 14 rebounds propelled the Cardinals. Emily Gersalia, Kam Cresto and Atiana Patino added five points each. Kresto pulled down seven rebounds and Gersalia had six boards as well as three assists and two steals.
Clear Lake is 2-9 in league and 5-15 overall.
There was no JV game as Cloverdale in not fielding a JV team this season.
Clear Lake travels to Kelseyville on Friday while Cloverdale heads to Fort Bragg.
