Warriors pull away with fourth-quarter surge, prevail 61-47 in Division 3 playoffs
By Brian Sumpter
Lake County Sports on Facebook
KELSEYVILLE >> One possession didn’t make the difference in Mission San Jose’s 61-47 win over the Kelseyville Knights on Friday night in the North Coast Section Division 3 quarterfinals, but one possession did indicate which way the wind was blowing in the fourth quarter of what had been a competitive game up to that point.
After cutting third-quarter deficits of 34-24 and 40-30 to 42-40 by quarter’s end, the third-seeded Knights appeared to be right where they needed to be against the 11th-seeded Warriors (17-11), a Division 2 team with an enrollment of 1,800, more than three times that of Kelseyville.
And while the Knights were indeed right there as the fourth quarter opened, the Warriors wasted no time pulling away, using an 8-0 run to go back up by 10. After taking a 44-40 lead on their first possession of the quarter, Mission San Jose stopped Kelseyville on defense. On the Warriors’ next possession, they pulled down offensive rebound after offensive rebound during a stretch of three straight missed shots from the field and then two free throws; the Warriors also rebounded that second missed free throw and missed three more shots from the field before junior guard Kaylin Teo found the range on a 3-pointer, was fouled in the process, and made the free throw to make it 48-40 with 6:15 remaining.
That trend of Mission San Jose rebounding dominance continued most of the final six minutes as the Warriors benefit from numerous multiple-shot possessions, most of them ending field goals, either two- or 3-pointers. They had 11 treys for the game to Kelseyville’s one.
Kelseyville was never closer than nine points during that final stretch despite a flurry of shots that just wouldn’t go in.
“Sometimes you just run into a team that has a better night,” Kelseyville head coach Tim Conrad said. “That happened tonight. We played our tails off, but Mission San Jose just played a little better. We got tired there down the stretch and they were able to extend the lead at the end, otherwise is was a pretty close, hard-fought game.”
“Their No. 11 (Teo) is a really tough cover,” Conrad said. “We knew her and No. 22 (Adhuna Devineni) were their scorers. We game planned for it, but good players are hard to stop.”
Teo finished with 22 points and five 3-pointers and while Devineni added 18 and three 3-pointers.
“If Teo had a little space, it was going up … and in,” Conrad said. “If we crowded her, she was able to drive, and our help defense was too slow. She had a hell of a night.”
Added Conrad of the Warriors, “They’re a well-coached, disciplined team.”
Mission San Jose’s defense targeted Kelseyville senior guard AJ Wurm, which wasn’t a shocker since teams have been focusing on the Knights’ varsity veteran all season long, but the Warriors did it a little better than most.
“They ran a lot of different girls at her and crowded her all night,” Conrad said. “She still had a strong effort (11 points, four assists, three rebounds), but she was exhausted.”
Another senior veteran, Mati Mateer, responded by playing perhaps her best games of the season, scoring 20 points and pulling down 19 rebounds, both team highs.
“Mati Mateer had a phenomenal night,” Conrad said. “She did everything we needed her to do, and she did that all year. I could put Mati at any spot on the floor and she never would bat an eye. She just ran out there and worked her tail off. She really led us tonight.”
Besides their struggles in the rebounding department, the Knights went only 10-for-22 from the free-throw line.
“That obviously hurt, but taking nothing away from them (Warriors),” Conrad said. “They just played a great game and beat us.”
The loss closed out an otherwise successful season for the Knights, who tied St. Helena for second place in the final North Central League I standings, finishing sjust one game behind champion Middletown.
“Fantastic season,” Conrad said. “20-6, a playoff win in Division 3 (against a Division 1 school), and a No. 3 seed, and then losing to another school of over 1,800 students. We have nothing to hang our heads about. We had an incredible year. I’m so proud of the effort of my girls.”
Added Conrad, “The three seniors, AJ, Mati and Liz (Erlandson) are going to be greatly missed. Those three worked so hard for me for the last two seasons.”
Erlandson sparked a late burst of offense by Kelseyville in the third quarter to help knock Mission San Jose’s lead down to two points by quarter’s end. She finished with five points and five rebounds. Junior Grace Hobbs added seven points and sophomore Aubree Sperber had four points and five rebounds.
Mission San Jose led 14-11 after one quarter and 25-22 at halftime.
