LOWER LAKE — The Cloverdale Eagles didn”t exactly ease out of the starting gate Friday night against the Lower Lake Trojans in a North Central League I interlock varsity girls” basketball game at the Carl Delgado gym in Lower Lake.
That”s not the run-and-gun Eagles” style.
“They jumped out of the blocks on fire,” Lower Lake coach Andrew Carpenter said of a 19-6 Eagles first quarter that ultimately led to a 59-55 win.
Cloverdale sophomore guards Whitney Edens and Sara Gambetta combined for four 3-pointers in the opening quarter. They ended up leading the Eagles with 15 points apiece.
Lower Lake (5-10) came all the way back to take a one-point lead with 1:22 remaining as Ashlee Hernstedt nailed her third 3-pointer of the game, but a crucial sequence followed and helped shift momentum back to the Eagles.
“After Ashlee scored to put us up by one, we had a defensive stop,” Carpenter said. “We had a chance to run down the shot clock but we took an early look and it didn”t fall. Cloverdale came back and scored to take the lead.”
The Eagles also hit a series of clutch free throws down the stretch to hold off the Trojans.
Lower Lake made a big run in the second quarter to get back into the game and another big run in the fourth quarter to take the lead, and seniors Hernstedt and Emmalena Illia sparked both surges, according to Carpenter.
“Our seniors came through,” Carpenter said. “They both made 3-pointers to get us going in the second quarter and they did the same thing in the fourth quarter.”
Darlena and April White led the Trojans with 14 and 12 points, respectively. Hernstedt finished with nine, all on 3-pointers, and Tashee Denson had eight.
In other girls” interlock action Friday:
Middletown 46, Clear Lake 34
At Lakeport, Middle-town”s inside game asserted itself time and time again and the Mustangs beat the Clear Lake Cardinals behind 15 points from center Kelsey Guzman and another 10 from forward Kelsey Welton.
Middletown (8-5) opened up a 17-5 lead after one quarter and pretty much maintained a double-digit advantage the entire game. The Mustangs” biggest lead was 19.
“Their inside game is very strong and we did our best to defend it,” Clear Lake coach Jennifer Goff said of Middletown”s Guzman-Welton barrage.
Kaila Sterbank led the Cardinals with 16 points, including three 3-pointers, and Katie Reynolds added nine points, but Clear Lake struggled from the perimeter a good portion of the game.
“We put up some quality shots but couldn”t get the ball to go in,” Goff said.
Clear Lake dropped to 5-7 with its fourth consecutive loss. The Cardinals host Kelseyville tonight at 5 p.m.
