LOWER LAKE — The 15th annual Record-Bee Hoop Classic has something for everyone in terms of this year”s official program cover.
For the first time in the tournament”s history, there isn”t just one program cover — last year it was Middletown scoring sensation Tyler Hunt — but six different covers featuring at least one player from each of Lake County”s five high schools.
The two most abundant covers feature Lower Lake High School players David Clark and Paul Bailey on one, and Clark, Bailey and Lower Lake head coach Marty Udy on the other. But there are also program covers featuring Kelseyville”s Peter Wotherspoon, Clear Lake”s Ryan Richardson, Middletown”s Zach Strickler and Upper Lake”s Kyle Coleman.
First Place Trophies and Awards of Lakeport is once again donating an award for the cheerleading unit that does the best job at this year”s Hoop Classic. It”s called the Team Spirit Award and that”s exactly what the judges will be looking for, not to mention originality. Clear Lake, Lower Lake and Middletown have sent their cheerleaders to just about every Hoop Classic, while Upper Lake and Kelseyville are generally no-shows.
Tournament organizers kept a wary eye on the weather report over the weekend, with snow forecast for Monday and Tuesday. It was only a few Hoop Classics ago that snow and rain reeked havoc on the tournament, forcing a rare Wednesday session of games and a double session on Saturday. In fact, the old Winter Classic for the county”s JV and varsity girls teams ended prematurely back in 2002 at Upper Lake, when a big storm knocked out the power. The awards were handed out under glow of flashlight that year. Hopefully nothing like that will happen this coming weekend.
Lower Lake defeated Middletown 47-41 in the late varsity game Monday, already the second meeting this season between the two teams. And they”ll meet at least two more times in league play. Middletown beat Lower Lake 52-48 last week at the Redwood Empire Invitational in Healdsburg.
One of the truly nice things about the Hoop Classic when it visits Lower Lake is the hospitality room for coaches, game officials, media and tournament VIPs. The Lower Lake Boosters always go out of their way to put out a great spread of main dishes and desserts.
