’STANGS CLOSE WITH VICTORIES
Middletown varsity boys, girls wrap up NCL I play with wins over visiting Lower Lake
LAKE COUNTRY >> Bouncing back from a 47-42 loss to Willits three nights earlier, the Middletown Mustangs completed their North Central League I and regular-season varsity girls basketball schedule with a come-frombehind 46-39 victory over the Lower Lake Trojans nearly a year ago today during a four-game set at Middletown High School.
With the North Coast Section playoffs looming, Middletown (11-3 league) entered play a loser of two straight, and the Mustangs found themselves in a 24-15 hole at halftime against Lower Lake.
“Whatever motivational speech I gave them worked,” Brown said. “We came out in the third quarter and played better defense.”
The Mustangs also found the basket with regularity in the third quarter, outscoring Lower Lake 18-4 to push in front 33-28 by quarter’s end. Middletown increased its lead to 40-32 midway through the fourth period before the Trojans went on a 7-0 run, a 3-pointer by Alisha Jones cutting the Mustangs’ lead to 40-39.
Middletown hit its free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.
“We went 9-for-13 at the freethrow line in the fourth quarter,” Brown said.
Sophie Kucer and Paige Astley scored 10 points apiece to lead a balanced Middletown attack. Olivia Kucer added eight points and Bella Dubois had seven.
After playing a solid first half against Middletown, the Trojans were bit by the turnover bug in the third quarter.
“That was our undoing,” he said. “If you turn the ball over against them, you’re playing right into their hands,” Lower Lake head coach Shannon Tubbs said.
Lower Lake’s shooting also fell off in the period.
“We just went ice-cold,” he said. “We scored four points in the quarter and that’s just not going to do it.”
Margo Cordova’s 13 points paced the Trojans, who closed out league play at 7-7, while Sam Hughes added 11, including three 3-pointers, and Jones had seven points.
“I’m proud of the girls, they fought the whole way,” Tubbs said of Thursday’s game and the 2019-20 season.
In the junior varsity game, Middletown closed out its season with a 44-40 win over Lower
Lake. Jaidyn Brown led the victorious Mustangs with 17 points and Skylar Williams added 15.
Terilyn Jo Jermany’s 16 points powered the Trojans, who led 9-3 after one quarter. Kyra Womack added 13 points.
In other varsity girls basketball action nearly a year ago today:
Clear Lake 62, Cloverdale 53
At Lakeport, the Clear Lake Cardinals spoiled Cloverdale’s
bid for a perfect league season although the Eagles (131) entered play already having clinched the outright NCL I championship.
“We’re playing good at the end of the year,” Clear Lake head coach Phil Psalmonds said of the Cardinals’ third straight victory, which gave them a final league mark of 9-5
Clear Lake also battled Cloverdale in their first league meeting, a 55-46 loss in Cloverdale.
Using a box-and-one defense against Cloverdale’s Tehya Bird, the Cardinals limited the Eagles’ four-year veteran to only 13 points. Sydney Howe was instrumental in slowing down the Eagles’ star player, according to Psalmonds.
“She was outstanding,” Psalmonds said.
The same could be said of Howe’s night shooting the ball. She finished with 20 points to lead the Cardinals. Joy Ingalls added 16 points, 11 rebounds and three steals.
“If I had to pick a player of the game, I don’t know who I would choose,” Psalmonds said. “She (Ingalls) was all over the court, too.”
Rylee Mix joined Howe and Ingalls in double digits with 14 points. The Cardinals sank 10 3-pointers, including four by Howe and two each from Ingalls, Mix and Shaelyn McIntire.
Alyssa Moffett’s 24 points powered the Eagles.
Clear Lake snapped a 28game Cloverdale winning streak dating back to the 2017-18 campaign when the Cardinals beat the Eagles twice late in the season, including in the quarterfinals of the Division 5 playoffs at Lakeport.
In the JV game, Clear Lake wrapped up the NCL I championship with a 4133
victory over Cloverdale. Abby Mertle and Stella Hill led the Cardinals (13-1) with 12 points apiece.
Kelseyville 73, St. Helena 28
At St. Helena, the Kelseyville Knights (8-6) beat the St. Helena Saints to wrap up fourth place in the league standings.
Kelseyville won eight of its final 11 league games after starting 0-3.
In their season finale against St. Helena (0-14), the Knights opened with a 24-point first quarter to take control of the game. They led 40-18 by halftime.
Allison Bryant and Ryann Taylor led the way with 14 points each and Malena Murray and M.J. Boardman added 11 apiece. Maddy Barker finished with nine points while Sam Carter and Emily Sandoval each had seven.
The Knights had a big shooting night, sinking a dozen 3-pointers, including three each from Bryant and Murray and two apiece from Boardman and Barker.
In the JV game, Kelseyville also finished up on a high note, blasting St. Helena 55-29 behind 20 points and four 3-pointers from Kaylei Davis, 15 points and three 3-pointers from Alondra Ortiz, and 11 points from Larue Furlani. Kelseyville went 8-6 in . “It was a very successful
season,” Nancy Getris said of her first season as the Knights’ coach. “I thoroughly enjoyed it.”
Varsity boys basketball Middletown 93,
Lower Lake 49
At Middletown, Andres Cervantes went off for 33 points, two of them coming on an alley-oop dunk in the fourth quarter, to carry the Middletown Mustangs to a one-sided victory over the Lower Lake Trojans in the league and regular-season finale for both of these teams.
The team’s six seniors — Andres Cervantes, Sammy Cervantes, Will Chastain, Jimmy Rockwell, Isaac Perez and Jason Jones — were honored prior to the start of their final home game. The Cervantes brothers, Chastain, Rockwell and Perez played most of the way.
“It was senior night and I wanted to keep them on the court as long as I could,” Middletown head coach G.J. Rockwell said.
Sammy Cervantes finished with 20 points and also had the assist on the alley-oop slam by brother Andres.
“It went from Sammy to Dre on a breakaway and they were in a little bit of traffic,” Rockwell said. “The crowd really liked it.”
Jimmy Rockwell finished with 17 points, including four 3-pointers, Chastain added 11 points and Perez
had eight.
The win gave Middletown a .500 record (7-7) in the final league standings.
The Trojans (4-10) were led by Semaj Clark with 19 points, Vann Wilkins with 15 and Aries Brooke with 11. Clark picked up two quick technicals in the fourth quarter on a slam dunk try and was ejected.
“I’ve never seen two technicals in two seconds before,” Lower Lake head coach Marcus Humphrey said.
Humphrey had high praise for the Mustangs, and especially Andres Cervantes.
“He shot lights out against us. He had a lot of inside points and putbacks,” Humphrey said. “Middletown played extremely well.”
In the JV game, Middletown closed out its season with a bang, routing Lower Lake 84-37 behind a barrage of 14 3-pointers, including five each by Lucas DaCosta (22 points) and Luke Hoogendoorn (15 points).
Middletown went 11-3 in league and 21-5 overall.
Cole Ketchum had 14 points for Middletown while Zach Dubois and Brody Breeden added nine apiece.
Marquis Jones led Lower Lake with 13 points.
Kelseyville 55, St. Helena 52
At Kelseyville, the Kelseyville Knights and
first-year head coach Jeremy Linnell closed out the season with a win over the St. Helena Saints.
The Knights (4-10) parlayed a big first quarter into their third win in four games. Kelseyville led 18-7 after the opening period and 31-18 at halftime.
“We played good defense in the first half,” Linnell said.
The Knights still had a 10-point lead entering the fourth quarter when St. Helena began chipping away at their lead.
“It was a four-point game with two minutes left,” Linnell said.
A 3-pointer by Brandon Garcia pushed the Knights’ lead to a more comfortable seven points and Kelseyville hit some clutch free throws down the stretch to hold off the Saints. Joey Mendonca went 3-for-4 at the line late in the period.
Kelseyville honored its six seniors prior to the opening tip-off. Along with Mendonca, who led the Knights with 19 points in his final high school game, Garrett Smith, Tyler Linnell, Bodhi Baird, Rafael Perez and Cameron Smith also were recognized during a pregame ceremony.
Baird added nine points in the win, Linnell had eight and Perez six.
In the JV game, St. Helena edged Kelseyville 43-41, dropping the Knights to 6-8 in league play.
Kyle Leary and Luke Watkins led the Knights with 15 and 10 points, respectively. Carson Mayo added five more.
“It was a tough one to end on,” Kelseyville coach Oscar Lopez said.
Credo 57, Upper Lake 53
At Rohnert Park, Credo jumped out to a 18-7 lead after one quarter and held off the Upper Lake Cougars in the NCL II and regular-season finale for both teams.
“We were down by double digits most of the way,” Upper Lake head coach Tony Arroyo said. “We got it to single digits with about five minutes to play.”
Upper Lake had a chance to make it a one-point game with 46 seconds left but missed the back end of a one-and-one free-throw opportunity. The Cougars had two chances to tie it in the final seconds but couldn’t find the range from the field.
Dalton Slater’s 17 points led the Cougars and Hank Nevarez had 12.
In the junior varsity game, Upper Lake beat Credo 45-33 to finish league play with a 4-4 record. Kyle Grandi led the way with 18 points, including three 3-pointers. Also for the Cougars, Blaine Rhodes scored eight points, Angel Serafin added seven, and Kai Young and Pedro Alvarado each had six.