FOUL FEST GOES TO MIDDLETOWN
Lady Mustangs, Trojans combine for 59 free throws in North Central League I game
LAKE COUNTY You almost couldn’t breathe without drawing a foul nearly a year ago today when the Lower Lake Trojans hosted the Middletown Mustangs in a tightly officiated North Central League I varsity girls basketball game that ended up going to Middletown 60-47.
Until the COVID-19-delayed 2020-21 sports season starts, the Lake County Record-Bee will take a look back at the local sports happenings of a year ago and the teams and athletes who were making the headlines.
Varsity girls basketball
Middletown and Lower Lake combined to shoot 59 free throws in what amounted to a game of attrition, especially for the Trojans who had three of their top players — Alisha Jones (13 points), Shelby Sapeta (eight points) and Kayla Doud — foul out before the start of the fourth quarter.
“We did a good job cutting their lead (from as many as 19 points) to 10 points,” Lower Lake head coach Shannon Tubbs said, “but we were running out of players.”
Middletown head coach Andy Brown said the Mustangs had to back off on defense to prevent getting into deeper foul trouble than they were.
“We had to be a little more passive,” he said.
The Mustangs had one of their better nights on offense as they scored 51 points in the first three quarters, including seven 3-pointers. Paige Astley led the way with 19 points and 12 rebounds, Abbey Brown added 17 points, and Sophie Kucer and Bri Alves each had seven. Olivia Kucer added five points and 11 rebounds.
In other varsity girls basketball action nearly a year ago today, the Clear Lake Cardinals needed a win against host Cloverdale to get back into the thick of the league race, but it was Tehya Bird and the Eagles emerging with a 55-46 victory.
Bird, the four-year varsity veteran, moved closer to the 2,000-point mark for her career by scoring 14 points. Catherine Driver led the Eagles with 18 points, all on 3-pointers.
“And a couple of those were from 6 feet behind the (3-point) line,” Clear Lake head coach Phil Psalmonds said of Driver. “She really impressed me.”
Clear Lake trailed by only six points entering the fourth quarter.
“That’s what we came down here to do, play hard and compete,” Psalmonds said. “We battled hard. I thought the kids played great.”
Rylee Mix’s 14 points paced the Cardinals, Hailee Bussard added 11 and Sierra Bruch had nine.
Sydney Howe, the focal point of the box-and-one defense Clear Lake used against Bird, helped slowed down the Eagles’ top player.
“Howe did another awesome job,” Psalmonds said.
Howe also scored seven points.