EUREKA — St. Bernard pulled away early in the second quarter and went on to beat the Lower Lake Trojans 65-52 in the championship game of the Crusader Christmas Classic on Saturday in Eureka.
St. Bernard, the tournament host, outscored Lower Lake 25-16 in the decisive second quarter.
“That definitely turned the game right around,” Lower Lake coach Andrew Carpenter said of the Crusaders” 25-point second-quarter explosion on offense. “We didn”t seem to have an answer to them early in the quarter. They would score but we couldn”t. We played better the last half of that quarter.”
Lower Lake had to put St. Bernard at the free-throw line down the stretch in an attempt to catch up but the Crusaders made most of their shots. They were 20-for-31 at the line compared to Lower Lake”s 9-for-26.
“That didn”t help,” Carpenter said of the Trojans” foul shooting.
The Trojans (6-4) also struggled from behind the 3-point arc, getting only two — one each from Danielle Bettencourt (13 points) and Rissy Prude (12 points).
“We get a couple of the ones we missed, it”s a different game,” Carpenter said.
The Trojans are off until Dec. 27 when they play Exeter at Liberty High School in Brentwood in the opening round of the West Coast Jamboree.
In other Saturday action:
Upper Lake 34, College Prep 24
At Cloverdale, Katie DeVries” 12 points and 10 rebounds lifted the Upper Lake Cougars to a win over College Prep in the third-place game of the Cloverdale Tournament.
Rebecca Breton added 10 points and five rebounds.
JV girls” basketball
Lower Lake 46, Kelseyville 40
At Middletown, Katrina Gallindo scored 16 points and Miranda Parks added 10 as Lower Lake beat Kelseyville in the consolation championship game the Middletown JV Tournament.
Chelsea DeJohn”s 11 points sparked Kelseyville and Liz Berry had nine points.
and four assists.
