Middletown, Upper Lake, St. Helena tied atop NCL I standings with 3-0 records
Lake County Sports on Facebook
LOWER LAKE >> Izzi Hoogendoorn scored all 20 of her points in the first three quarters as the Middletown High School varsity girls basketball team turned back the Lower Lake Trojans 47-40 in North Central League I action at Lower Lake.
Hoogendoorn, a sophomore, took two hard spills on the court, her head making contact with the floor each time, and was held out in the fourth quarter as a precaution, according to her mom and head coach, Roxi Holt.
The Mustangs (3-0 league, 8-5 overall) suited up only eight for the game and will likely only suit up eight the remainder of the season, according to Holt.
“The girls did a good job rolling with whatever I threw at them,” Holt said.
Middletown took a 34-29 lead into the fourth quarter, pushing its lead into double digits at one point.
“We were controlling the game at the end,” Holt said.
Jordyn Harbison added 12 points and seven rebounds. Hoogendoorn had 10 rebounds, five steals and two blocks to go along with her 20 points, including 6-for-9 from the free-throw line. Thaly Rodriguez added four points, seven rebounds and four steals.
“I was happy with how we played,” Holt said. “We played much better against them than the last time we faced them (a 39-35 win on Dec. 18 at the Stokes Tournament in Kelseyville).”
Maddy Garner’s nine points led the Trojans (1-2, 4-8) while Irianna Milano and Jamiya Lee-Ayers each had six.
“Couldn’t keep them (Mustangs) off the free-throw line,” Lower Lake head coach Shannon Tubbs said. “That was the difference in the game.”
Added Tubbs, “It was competitive the whole way through, not a bad game to start out after the break. We’re hoping to build off what we were trying to work on.”
Middletown travels to Fort Bragg on Friday while Lower Lake hosts St. Helena.
In the junior varsity game, Middletown improved to 2-0 in league and 9-3 overall with a 54-36 victory.
Grace Williams sank four 3-pointers while leading the Mustangs with 16 points. Chloe Pulido added 12, Emma Davis had eight, Ally Cherry seven and Emma Jones six.
“We knew going into last night’s game it was going to be a tough battle for us,” Middletown head coach Daryl Dacosta said. “Lower Lake has a very good team, but the ladies showed up and performed well. We got a little lazy in the second quarter and let Lower Lake cut into our lead. We made some adjustments at halftime and the whole team really stepped up.”
“We need to focus on coming out strong as a team and not making consistent mistakes,” Lower Lake head coach Jessica Lackowski said as the Trojans fell to 2-1 in league and 8-4 overall despite 16 points from Eden Sparks and 10 from Darleen Benefield.
Dacosta praised the play of Williams.
“Grace Williams has been phenomenal all season on the defensive side of the ball, and I know that she’s been waiting to get her offense going. Last night was a big game for her and it was well deserved. She has been putting gin a lot of hard work these past few weeks and it showed in last night’s game.”
St. Helena 50, Kelseyville 46
At Kelseyville, off to its best league start in years, the St. Helena Saints improved to 3-0 in the NCL I standings with a win over league defending co-champ Kelseyville.
“A hard-fought and very competitive game,” Kelseyville head coach Tim Conrad said. “St. Helena played really well. You could tell that they were hungry to beat us. I thought we played really well too, other than a few aspects of the game.”
St. Helena’s multiple offensive rebounds and Kelseyville’s 9-for-20 night at the free-throw line cost the Knights, according to Conrad.
“We gave ourselves opportunities down the stretch to tie, but just couldn’t quite get there,” Conrad said.
Kelseyville (1-2, 9-4) suited up only seven players because of injury.
AJ Wurm and Mati Mateer carried the scoring load for the Knights with 16 points apiece. Wurm also had four assists and four rebounds while Mateer added six rebounds. Aubree Sperber finished with seven points. Grace Hobbs had three points, five rebounds and four assists.
Kelseyville hosts Upper Lake as part of a four-game set between the two schools on Friday.
In the JV game, Kelseyville beat St. Helena 47-4 to register its first league victory. Rilee Sperber’s 14 points paced the Knights (1-2, 5-5) while Taylor Wood had eight and Gabby Keyes six.
“Everybody scored again tonight and everybody played really well,” Kelseyville head coach Liz Berry said.
Upper Lake 49, Cloverdale 47
At Cloverdale, keeping pace with Middletown and St. Helena atop the league standings, the Upper Lake Cougars improved to 3-0 by holding off the Cloverdale Eagles.
“Our defense stepped up in the fourth quarter,” Upper Lake head coach Raelene Cromwell said. “We had great defense from Sofia Cruz.”
Alyssa John, who missed Upper Lake’s previous three games because of a family emergency, returned with a double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds, including three 3-pointers. Aimee Schaefers added 14 points, 15 rebounds and seven blocks while Rylee Zimmerschied had 11 points, five rebounds, four steals and two 3-pointers.
“Difference was rebounding, too many second-chance opportunities for ULHS,” Cloverdale head coach Mac Butler said.
Bella Demattei’s 14 points led the Eagle (0-3) while Ronni Hatcher had 11 and Kylee Vlasak 10.
Upper Lake, now 13-2 overall, visits Kelseyville for a four-game set between the two schools Friday.
Clear Lake 60, Fort Bragg 18
At Lakeport, Faith McIntire’s 20 points, including four 3-pointers, and 12 rebounds propelled Clear Lake (1-2, 6-8) to its first league win of the season as Fort Bragg fell to 0-3.
Clear Lake outscored Fort Bragg 21-2 in the third quarter to open up a 48-12 lead.
Kam Cresto added 12 points and eight rebounds in the win while Karsyn Green finished with 11 points and Jazmin Wiebusch seven.
Clear Lake hosts Cloverdale on Friday.
In the JV game, Clear Lake improved to 3-0 in league and 7-0 overall with a 72-21 victory over Fort Bragg.
“After a three-week hiatus with no game time, I was not certain how our team would play tonight,” Clear Lake head coach Tony Farrington said. “However, despite this break, we were able to implement a number of the things that we worked on over the winter break, in particular learning unselfish play, and getting into our offense.
“I believe the girls’ well-rounded team scoring is demonstrative of their team play tonight,” Farrington added.
Macie Snyder and Hailey Perez led the balanced Clear Lake attack with 17 points apiece, followed by Ava Gamble with 13, Camara Wittman with 10, Anjoli Scott with six and Cali Albaum with five.
