Kelseyville turns back Antioch 56-50 behind 27 points from senior guard AJ Wurm
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KELSEYVILLE >> Holding off the Antioch Panthers down the stretch, the Kelseyville Knights are headed to the North Coast Section Division 3 quarterfinals following their 56-50 girls basketball playoff win Tuesday night in Kelseyville.
The third-seeded Knights (20-5) notched their 20th win of the season after getting off to a solid start in the first quarter against the 14th-seeded Panthers (13-12). Kelseyville now turns its attention to No. 11 seed Mission San Jose, a 47-46 upset winner over No. 6 seed Urban in another first-round game Tuesday. Kelseyville hosts Mission San Jose (16-11) on Friday at 7 p.m., the winner moving on to the Division 3 semifinals next Tuesday at a location to be determined.
“Excited to win game No. 20 on the season, but definitely felt like we could have played better,” Kelseyville head coach Tim Conrad said. “We came out and had a great start, 20-9 first quarter, and we were rolling.”
Antioch battled back with a 19-12 second quarter, taking advantage of numerous Kelseyville turnovers, to cut the Knights’ halftime lead to 32-28.
“We started to turn the ball over and had trouble rotating in our defense, things that we usually don’t do, and it was going on tonight,” Conrad said.
Antioch pushed in front early in the third quarter before Kelseyville quickly regained the lead, for good as things turned out.
“I am happy for the win but a little frustrated with how we played overall,” Conrad said. “We had really good stretches and really bad ones as well. Overall, we played well enough to hold them off and get the win.”
Kelseyville kept its cool late in the game when the Panthers remained close and refused to go away.
“One real positive tonight was how the girls stayed composed when things got chippy from Antioch,” Conrad said. “I’m really proud of how we handled ourselves on the floor. We have been on a great roll down the stretch of the league season, so I’m hoping we can bounce back on Friday with a good, quality performance in front of our home crowd.”
Senior guard AJ Wurm led the Knights with 27 points, including 6-for-8 from the free-throw line, with four assists, five rebounds and three steals. Aubree Sperber added 13 points and five rebounds while Mati Mateer had 11 points, eight rebounds and seven steals.
Wurm topped 1,100 points for her career (1,105) in the win.
On Kelseyville’s side of the Division 3 bracket, No. 2 seed Benicia beat Berkeley 42-32 and will host No. 7 Jesse M. Bethel in another quarterfinal-round game Friday. If Kelseyville and Jesse M. Bethel both win Friday, Kelseyville would host a semifinal game on Tuesday, Feb. 24. If Kelseyville and Benicia win, Kelseyville would hit the road.
Kelseyville lost at home to Fortuna in the opening round of the playoffs last season.
