Cougars, Mustangs prevail
Upper Lake, M'town open league with solid victories
ROHNERT PARK >> They weren’t playing the same team that spoiled their perfect league record back on Feb. 13, 2020, but the Upper Lake Cougars still took immense satisfaction in beating the Credo Gryphon 49-24 on Tuesday evening in Rohnert Park.
“We wanted to get a win in their building,” Upper Lake head coach Mike Smith said as the Cougars’ rolled to a big win in the North Central League II opener for both of these varsity girls basketball teams.
Upper Lake took a 7-0 record into its final league game in 2020 only to suffer a bitter 45-43 loss on the Gryphon’s home floor.
“They punched us in the gut the last time we were here, so we wanted to get off to a good start this time,” Smith said.
Upper Lake opened the game in a full-court man press and parlayed a number of steals and unforced Credo errors into a 17-6 lead after one quarter.
“That’s what did it,” Smith of a high-pressure Upper Lake defense led by Zoey Petrie’s seven steals, Maddy Young’s six steals, Heaven’Lee Loans Arrow’s five steals and Tristin Rhodes’ four steals.
Upper Lake, now 5-0 on the season, kept on pressing in the second quarter and went to halftime with a comfortable 33-12 lead.
Petrie scored nine of her teamleading 13 points in the first quarter and Madison Noble had eight of her 10 in the second quarter.
“She really played well,” Smith of Noble.
Upper Lake also had a good night passing the ball. Loans Arrow finished with six assists and Young had three.
“We distributed the ball pretty well,” Smith said.
The team’s unselfishness was reflected in Upper Lake’s balanced scoring. Besides Petrie and Noble, Taylar Minnis finished with 10 points and Loans Arrow had seven.
Upper Lake’s reserves played the majority of the second half.
“We got a lot of people into the game,” Smith said.
Originally scheduled as a fourgame set between the two schools, gym issues forced Credo to postpone the junior varsity girls and boys games, which will be played at a later date.
Upper Lake’s varsity plays Point Arena on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. in the opening round of the Potter Valley Tournament. The Cougars are off Thursday before resuming tournament play Friday and Saturday.
In other league openers Tuesday:
Middletown 49, Lower Lake 35
At Middletown, trailing 2219 at halftime, the Middletown Mustangs buried the Lower Lake
Trojans under a barrage of 3-pointers in the third quarter to win the NCL I opener for both teams.
Middletown (1-0, 4-2 league) sank five 3-pointers in the period, three by Paige Astley and one each by Jaidyn Brown and Mia Hoogendoorn, to open up 38-31 lead.
“We finally came alive,” Middletown head coach Andy Brown said. “In the first half we hurried our offense and were lacking the basics. We also didn’t do a very good job on the defensive boards, we gave them too many second chances.”
“We didn’t make the adjustments we needed to at halftime and Middletown came out and played a heck of a game,” Lower Lake head coach Shannon Tubbs said of the Mustangs’ third-quarter surge.
The Mustangs opened the fourth quarter with a 6-0 run — getting single baskets from Brown, Skylar Williams and Ella Rockwell — to push their lead into double digits where it remained the rest of the game. Middletown’s defense limited Lower Lake (0-1, 0-3) to no field goals and only four free throws in the final period.
Astley scored 11 of her 14 points in the second half, including nine in the third quarter.
“She busted it wide open with those 3s in the third quarter,” Brown said.
Brown also scored all nine of her points in the second half, including seven in the third quarter. The junior might have done even more damage if she hadn’t taken a shot to the eye.
“Who knows how many she would have scored?” Brown said.
Williams added eight points in the win while Hoogendoorn and Rockwell had seven apiece.
Middletown finished with six 3-pointers to Lower Lake’s none.
Kyleigh Mock’s 12 points paced the Trojans, but no other Lower Lake player had more than five.
Kamryn Atkins pulled down a team-best 10 rebounds for the Mustangs and Brown led the team with five steals. Williams added six rebounds.
Middletown is home Thursday to play Piner in non-league action. Lower Lake hits the road Thursday to play Central Valley in the opening round of the Durham Tournament.
RUP 36, Kelseyville 33
At Santa Rosa, in a game where the two teams were never separated by much, Roseland University Prep edged Kelseyville in the NCL I opener for both teams.
It also was Kelseyville’s season opener.
“It was their fifth game of the season and our first,” Kelseyville head coach Bonnie Thomasson said. “I was impressed with the team’s effort. It was a really great first game.”
Kelseyville (0-1, 0-1) has just seven players on its roster — three seniors, two juniors, one sophomore and one freshman. Two of the seniors — Emily Sandoval (20 points) and Larue Furlani (10 points) — accounted for almost all of the team’s scoring.
Kelseyville did win the junior varsity game, 26-16, behind 11 points from Cali Schnabl and nine from Ashlyn Klein. Like the varsity, the Kelseyville JVs suited up just seven players. Briana Davis added four points and a team-high nine rebounds.
Kelseyville’s varsity team returns to action Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. against McKinleyville in the opening round of the Redwood Empire Invitational at Healdsburg.