ST. HELENA — Kelseyville High School varsity girls” basketball coach Jim Salmina asked two of his younger players to “step up” on Thursday night as the Knights squared off with Mount Shasta in the first round of the St. Helena Tournament.
They did.
Junior guard Jodi Snider led the way with 19 points and sophomore Kaitlyn Goff scored 10 points in her first varsity start as the Knights beat Mount Shasta 55-42 for their first win of the season.
Minus the services of starters Katie King and Jill Bailey because of injury, the Knights needed an offensive pick-me-up and Snider and Goff provided it as Kelseyville moved out to a 15-4 lead after one quarter and gradually pulled away from Mount Shasta.
“Jodi Scored scored our first nine points,” Salmina said. “I think her and Kaitlyn Goff did a great job.”
Veteran center Lauren Nixon also had a big part in the win with 11 points and a team-best 10 rebounds.
The Knights found the range on five 3-pointers, two of them by Goff.
“I thought the kids played solid tonight,” Salmina said.
The Knights could have their point guard, Bailey, back in the lineup tonight when they play South Fork in a winner”s semifinal-round game at 7 p.m. The winner advances to Saturday”s championship game.
In other action Thursday:
South Fork 67, Clear Lake 52
At St. Helena, a poor third quarter hurt the Clear Lake Cardinals in a first-round loss to the South Fork Cubs at the St. Helena Tournament.
Both teams were locked into an up-tempo game at halftime with South Fork leading 33-26. But the third quarter belonged entirely to the Cubs, who outscored the Cardinals 19-3 to take control.
“We had trouble getting into our offense,” Clear Lake coach Jen Goff said of the Cardinals” third-quarter woes. “They switched from a zone defense in the first half to a man-to-man and it bothered us.”
Clear Lake center Brittany Rumfelt tried to rally the Cardinals (2-3) in the fourth quarter when she scored 13 of her team-leading 21 points. Julie Jackson and Emilee Meyer added nine points apiece.
Champion Christian 50, Lower Lake 42
At Durham, Rissy Prude”s 20 points were not enough as the Lower Lake Trojans lost to Champion Christian of Chico in the opening round of the Durham Tournament.
Lower Lake is already without two starters because of injuries, however, center Passion Allen-LeNard (dislocated finger) did suit up and actually was pressed into service in the final seconds of the game after a fourth Lower Lake player fouled out, leaving coach Andrew Carpenter with few options.
“She actually had a one-handed rebound,” Carpenter said of Allen-LeNard. “We really could have used her tonight. She would have made the difference.”
Nearly all of Champion Christian”s 13 points in the fourth quarter came at the free-throw line.
Prude had two 3-pointers among her 20 points and Amber Shoffeitt also connected twice from long range while scoring 13 points.
While LeNard is expected to play today when the Trojans (3-4) face either Hayfork or Gridley in the consolation semifinals, the news is not so good for Danille Bettencourt (broken foot), who is out indefinitely.
“We don”t expect to have her back until after the Christmas break,” Carpenter said.
