Airtight NCL I girls race going down to final week of regular season
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LAKEPORT >> Clear Lake High School’s Faith McIntire scored career point 1,000th on a 3-pointer that caught all net with 32.2 seconds left in the first half, but the Kelseyville Knights dominated the final two quarters while beating the Cardinals 52-32 in North Central League I varsity girls basketball action Friday night in Lakeport.
McIntire entered play 13 points shy of the career milestone. She scored five points during a 13-9 first quarter that favored the Knights (9-3 league, 17-5 overall). Kelseyville opened up as much as a seven-point lead in the second quarter before Clear Lake (5-7, 10-14) clawed its way back into the game, pulling even at 18-18 when McIntire scored down low, drew a foul and added the free throw. Those were her eighth, ninth and 10 points of the game.
It was 20-20 when McIntire drained a 3-pointer from the wing, putting her at exactly 1,000 points. The game was briefly halted so that the four-year varsity veteran, who played her first two seasons at Kelseyville before transferring to Clear Lake, could celebrate with teammates and coaches. That her 1,000th point also came on senior night as the Cardinals played their final home game of the season made it an extra-special night for the senior.
While that was all well and good for McIntire and the Cardinals, the Knights, who are in a dogfight with Middletown and St. Helena for a share of the league title, had their own business to attend to. And they did.
Aubree Sperber’s basket in the final seconds of the half cut Clear Lake’s lead to 23-22.
“A low-energy first half was followed by a 30-9 second half to put away the Cardinals,” Kelseyville head coach Tim Conrad said. “I kept telling the girls to push the ball up the court. Even if we didn’t get transition buckets, we were making them run. We like to play that way and condition ourselves in practices each week to play up tempo. We kept saying it would pay off. The other team will get tired, and we will still be good.”
Added Conrad, “I felt like the energy and tempo really changed in the second half.”
There was no question about that.
After an exchange of baskets to open the second half, the Knights tied the game at 25-all when Grace Hobbs hit one of two free throws. They promptly pushed ahead to stay on AJ Wurm’s steal and layup to make it 27-25. Another Wurm steal and layup followed, then Wurm scored on a transition layup to push the Knights’ lead to 31-25.
Clear Lake closed to 31-27, but the Knights blew the game wide open in short order, Wurm and Mati Mateer scoring baskets for a 35-27 lead. When the fourth quarter opened, Sperber scored five straight points, including a corner 3-pointer to get things rolling.
Hobbs hit another shot moments later, reaching back behind her to flip the ball into the basket, to make it 42-27 with 4:57 to go. Clear Lake closed to 42-29 before a 6-0 Knights mini-run, including two more Mateer baskets, put the game out of reach at 48-29.
“Mati and Aubree combined for 15 of our 17 in the (fourth) quarter to really put he game away,” Conrad said. “AJ had another solid night (team-leading 20 points), but Clear Lake played a box-and-one and ran a girl at her the whole night. That can get exhausting. We needed others to step up their scoring and those two thankfully did.”
Sperber finished with 16 points while Mateer had a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds. Hobbs added six points. Wurm, in addition to her 20 points, had seven steals, almost all of them leading to baskets, and six assists.
“The girls did a nice job of responding to some tough talk at halftime and following the gameplan,” Conrad said.
The Knights didn’t come out of the game completely unscathed, according to Conrad, as several Kelseyville players hit the floor hard during the night.
“Liz Erlandson took a hard fall in the last minute of the game and really hurt her hand and elbow,” Conrad said. “We were going to be holding our breath waiting to hear if it’s serious or not. Liz does a great deal for us, especially on hustle plays, and we quite frankly can’t afford to lose her or anyone else with our low numbers (seven players).”
After a big first half, McIntire ended up with 16 points to lead the Cardinals. Kam Cresto added eight points while Atiana Patino had five.
Honored during a pregame ceremony were Clear Lake seniors McIntire, Patino, Cresto and Karsyn Greer. The Cardinals also presented gifts to Kelseyville’s three seniors, Wurm, Mateer and Erlandson.
Wurm scored her 1,000th point Tuesday night in the Knights’ win at Upper Lake.
Kelseyville hosts Cloverdale in a varsity-only game Tuesday at 6 p.m. Clear Lake travels to Lower Lake.
In the junior varsity game, Clear Lake pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat Kelseyville 32-21 and remain one game behind Middletown in the league standings with two games remaining for each team, including a head-to-head battle Thursday in Middletown, the season finale for both squads.
“Overall, we played well, but we continued to struggle to make safe passes and we often threw the ball away, which made this game more competitive than it should have been,” Clear Lake head coach Tony Farrington said.
Camara Wittman’s 11 points led the Cardinals (9-1, 17-3), Macie Snyder added seven and Anjoli Scott had five.
“The girls played tough tonight,” Kelseyville head coach Liz Berry said. “They executed everything we talked about before the game. Brooke Poff had a great night for us defensively and getting the ball moving offensively.”
Kelseyville is 5-6 in league play and 9-9 overall. The team had a bye Tuesday before closing out its season Friday at home against Fort Bragg.
In other NCL I girls action Friday:
St. Helena 46, Middletown 26
At St. Helena, needing a win to clinch no worse than a share of the league title, the Middletown Mustangs came up well short against the Saints, setting the stage for a big final week of league play.
Middletown (10-2, 16-7) takes a one-game lead over St. Helena (9-3, 15-6) and Kelseyville into its final two games – at Upper Lake on Tuesday and home against Clear Lake on Thursday. The Mustangs can clinch the outright championship by winning both games or no worse than a share of the league title with one victory.
“We got outplayed today,” Middletown head coach Roxi Holt said. “St. Helena came to play. We could not finish on the offensive side.”
The Mustangs also lost starter Izzi Hoogendoorn to a shoulder injury in the first half, knocking her out of the game. She finished with five points.
“It didn’t help, but we were already down at the point obviously,” Holt said.
Added Holt, “We know we have a big week ahead.”
Thaly Rodriguez led the Mustangs with 10 points. Autumn Clark had four.
Middletown’s JV team won by forfeit, improving to 10-0 in league play and 18-3 overall. The Mustangs clinch no worse than a share of the league title with a victory Tuesday in Upper Lake.
Lower Lake 47, Upper Lake 46
At Upper Lake, despite going 6-for-25 from the free-throw line, the Lower Lake Trojans eked out a one-point victory over the Upper Lake Cougars.
“In a game where you make 6-for-25, you would never expect to win, but tonight we did that very thing,” Lower Lake head coach Shannon Tubbs said. “The girls played so hard tonight. They were playing from behind almost the whole game until the fourth quarter when they just came together and pulled it out.”
Added Tubbs, “Some big shots by five or six different players at critical times was the difference tonight.”
Lower Lake (7-5, 10-11) dug itself out of a 16-5 first-quarter hole.
Irianna Milano and Brooke Watson scored 10 points apiece for the Trojans, Mary Watson had seven and Madelyn Garner and Jamiya Lee-Ayers six each.
Alyssa John’s 22 points, including three 3-pointers, and 21 rebounds powered the Cougars (6-6, 16-8). Rylee Zimmerschied added 12 points and six rebounds.
“Lower Lake’s press worked for them,” Upper Lake head coach Raelene Cromwell said. “We couldn’t find a way to finish under pressure.”
Upper Lake remains home to play league leader Middletown on Tuesday. Lower Lake hosts Clear Lake.
In the JV game, Lower Lake beat Upper Lake 50-25 behind 18 points from Eden Sparks, 11 from Samira Martinez, nine from Lexi Mitchell and six from Ava Garcia.
“We got to see the entire team step up and show us what they’ve learned this season,” Lower Lake head coach Jessica Lackowski said.
Kenzie Foley scored nine points and Annica Warren had eight for Upper Lake (2-8, 4-12).
Lower Lake is 8-3 in league play and 15-6 overall.
