COLUSA — Clear Lake High School varsity girls” basketball coach Jennifer Goff finally won a first-round game in the Colusa Tournament.
Behind 18 points from Kaila Sterbank and a 14-point, 20-rebound night by center Jesse Sondag, the Cardinals defeated Champion Christian 53-38 on Thursday night.
Clear Lake (2-0) fell behind 21-12 after one quarter but outscored Champion Christian 41-17 the rest of the way.
“It was a long drive over there and the games were delayed, so we were flat in that first quarter,” Goff said. “Once we figured out what the matchups were, we did great.”
Clear Lake used a 22-7 third quarter to pull in front. Sterbank scored 10 of her points in the period, including two of her three 3-pointers.
Sterbank also led the Cardinals with six assists.
In other girls” action Thursday:
Upper Lake 42, Ferndale 37
Katy DeVries” three-point play with 40 seconds remaining gave the Upper Lake Cougars a two-point lead and Jackie Lovrin made both ends of a one-and-one with two seconds left to give the Cougars a first-round win over Ferndale in the Willits Tournament.
With the Cougars (1-1) missing a starter, Lisa Irwin took her place and gave coach Donnie Meri some quality minutes.
“She made two field goals and went 3-for-4 from the free-throw line,” Meri said of Irwin, who finished with seven points. “She played a really good game.”
While Upper Lake held an 18-12 lead at halftime, Ferndale pushed in front in the third quarter and led 30-25 by the end of the period.
“We battled and the girls reacted to what was going on,” Meri said.
DeVries, the Cougars” center, was almost a non-factor in the first half, scoring only three points.
“We finally started getting her the ball in the second half,” Meri said of DeVries, who scored seven of her team-leading 10 points in the fourth quarter.
In boys” action Thursday:
Rio Vista 43, Middletown 39
Middletown didn”t score a point in the first quarter and trailed 24-7 at halftime, but the Mustangs threw a scare Rio Vista”s way in the fourth quarter before falling in a first-round game at the St. Helena Tournament.
Middletown (0-1) outscored Rio Vista 22-7 in the final period but was never closer than four points.
“I knew we were going to sputter a little bit,” said Middletown coach Mike Mullin, who has had only three full practices with his full squad because of the Mustangs” participation in the football playoffs. “We just dug too deep of a hole.”
Middletown trailed 14-0 after the first quarter.
Dustin Peterson”s nine points led the Mustangs, Dylan Galusha added seven and Brett Humphrey and John Hays each had six.
Middletown plays either Calistoga or St. Helena today at 5:30 p.m.
