LADY COUGARS DOWN COYOTES
Upper Lake's defense, rebounding lethal combination in 44-24 league win over Sonoma Academy
SANTA ROSA >> Just playing a game was a victory for the Upper Lake High School varsity girls basketball team Wednesday night before about a dozen spectators in Santa Rosa. That the Cougars also beat Sonoma Academy 44-24 in North Central League II action on the Coyotes’ home floor made it even more worthwhile.
“We’ve had six practices since our last game (on Dec. 18),” Upper Lake head coach Mike Smith said. “Five over winter break (in late December) and one since then … and that was yesterday (Tuesday). This has been a tough place for us to win (in past seasons), it’s normally a dogfight down here.”
While one of the Coyotes’ top players missed the game because she is in COVID-19 quarantine, it probably wouldn’t have altered the outcome given how well the Cougars (3-0 league, 11-2 overall) played on defense and how well they rebounded, especially in the first half. They had a 25-7 lead by halftime and it took a Sonoma Academy 3-pointer in the final seconds of the second quarter to get the Coyotes that close.
Upper Lake’s backcourt pressure forced numerous turnovers and resulted in a handful of layups early on in the game. Even when not pressuring the Coyotes, the Cougars’ defensive play was excellent. They came up with a number of outright steals — a team-best six by Zoey Petrie and five more by Heaven’Lee Loans Arrow — or simply disrupted the flow of Sonoma Academy’s offense by knocking the ball away and forcing the Coyotes to reset.
“Zoey and Maddy (Young) are good defensive guards and they did their job,” Smith said.
The Cougars came away with nearly all of the loose balls in the first half with their hustle, starters and reserves alike. While they didn’t put together much of an outside shooting game Wednesday, they excelled at finding the open player down low and most of the time it was Taylar Minnis, who led the team with 14 points.
“Taylar Minnis has really worked hard learning the post position and that hard work came through tonight,” Smith said. “I thought we did a good job passing the ball, but not overpassing it.”
Upper Lake’s play on the offensive and defensive boards was another huge factor in their success. While limiting the Coyotes to one shot much on most of their possessions, the Cougars
also picked up a handful of points with second- and sometimes even third-chance shots.
“Heaven and (Madison) Noble were controlling the boards. They were positioning themselves for rebounds and I thought they played their smartest game of the season,” Smith said.
Loans Arrow, in addition to her five steals, led the team with 10 rebounds and also had 11 points for a double-double. Minnis added nine rebounds and Noble had six more as well as seven points.
Sonoma Academy scored the first two points of the game for its only lead. Upper Lake answered with a 19-0 run, scoring the final 14 points of the first quarter and the first five of the second quarter. Smith went to his bench often after the first quarter but the Cougars continued to play with a high level of intensity. Sonoma Academy was never closer than 15 points and trailed by as many as 23 in the second half.
The game was played with almost no one in the stands because of Sonoma County’s COVID-19 protocols. No more than 50 people are allowed in a gym at the same time, and that number includes players, coaches, officials, scoretable personnel, media and fans.
It’s just a sign of the times, according to Smith, who when asked about his team’s return from a month-long layoff,
mostly because of COVID, answered, “It’s definitely surreal coming back after a month off during this part of the season.”
And the Cougars will have to wait until next week before they can play again. Credo was supposed to visit Upper Lake on Friday for a league game but doesn’t have enough players to field a varsity girls team, according to Smith. Credo will send its junior varsity girls as well as its JV and varsity boys teams to Upper Lake.
“We got a little taste and now we have to wait again,” Smith said. “I just want to give credit to Sonoma Academy for making it happen tonight, for honoring their league commitment. We would do the same for them. I appreciate it.”
On a more positive note, Upper Lake was at close to full strength for the first time all season with the addition of Karlee Zimmerschied, who played a handful of minutes. The senior guard sustained a broken ankle during Upper Lake’s run to the sectional championship game in soccer in early November. Though she still shows a slight limp, Smith said that had more to do with how tightly taped her ankle was than with any lasting effects of the injury.
“The ankle was heavily taped,” Smith said. “It was great to have her back.”
There was no JV girls game