Cougars roll into semifinals
ULHS girls prevail 42-29 in girls sectional playoffs
LAKE COUNTY >> After going 26 years without a home playoff victory, the Upper Lake Cougars won a second straight postseason game on their own floor, a 42-29 decision over San Domenico of San Anselmo in the quarterfinal round of the North Coast Section Division 5 girls basketball playoffs nearly a year ago today.
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.
Just a few days after beating International of San Francisco in an opening-round game to end that long playoff dry spell at home, the Cougars surged into the sectional semifinals with their 22nd win in 26 games.
While the Cougars’ victory over San Domenico wasn’t their best game of the season by a long shot — Upper Lake was sloppy in the first half and especially in the second quarter with erratic ballhandling and passing — the team’s saving grace turned out to be a quick-handed defense that caused the Panthers all sorts of problems.
“We were so out of sync with our offense in that first half,” Upper Lake head coach Mike Smith said. “We weren’t trusting each other, we weren’t cutting to the ball, we were standing still.”
Smith’s halftime speech centered on just that.
“We needed more movement, we had to be more fluid,” Smith said. “We started moving the ball
much better and it creates confidence.”
Upper Lake scored the game’s first 11 points although both teams were struggling mightily with their shooting in the opening quarter. The Cougars were on the verge of shutting out the Panthers but Alexa Dal Porto scored in the final seconds of the period to make it 11-2.
During a second quarter when the Cougars would only attempt five shots from the field because of multiple turnovers, San Domenico closed to 13-12 with 3:12 left in the half. The Panthers would never tie or go ahead of the Cougars, but the two teams were never separated by much — two to five points — until Upper Lake’s 10-0 run midway through the fourth quarter.
No one player stood out for the Cougars, rather several players stepped up at different points of the game — starters and reserves alike — to make key contributions. That list included reserve Molly McCabe, who scored back-to-back baskets in the first quarter, the latter a 3-pointer; starter Madison Noble with five points in the third quarter; starter Alana Sanchez, Upper Lake’s lone senior, who scored her only four points of the game in the third quarter; and starter Heaven’Lee Loans Arrow, whose free throw with 3:58 left in the game and basket moments later gave the Cougars a 36-27 lead that eventually grew to 40-27 on free throws by Zoey Petrie and Karlee Zimmerschied and a McCabe basket with 3:00 remaining.
“That second half, everyone I put in had their moment to shine and that was huge,” Smith said.
Upper Lake had to play the final 5:05 without starting point guard Maddy Young, who fouled out while trying to get a charge call but was instead called for a block. She was replaced off the bench by yet another freshman, Lupy Monlo-Duncan, who sank two free throws for the final two points of the game.
Noble ended up leading the Cougars with nine points while both McCabe and Loans Arrow finished with seven. Petrie added six more.
Noku Mukukula’s eight points paced the Panthers, Dal Porto had seven and Cate Olrich six.
In addition to moving the Cougars into the semifinals against Cloverdale, the victory over San Domenico guaranteed Upper Lake a berth in the NorCal playoffs.
Game notes: Former Upper Lake great Laura Wilder was in attendance for the San Domenico game The former Cougars star is Lake County’s all-time scoring leader. She earned a scholarship to Washington State University after graduating from Upper Lake in 1994. Her number along with the numbers of teammates Annie Pivniska and Jennifer Bryant have since been retired by the school. Annie Pivniska Petrie is now the Upper Lake principal.