LOWER LAKE — Not twice in three days.
That was pretty much the feeling on the Middletown High School bench Thursday night as the North Central League I North-champion Mustangs turned back the Lower Lake Trojans 57-45 in the first round of the league”s postseason basketball tournament at Lower Lake High School.
Lower Lake beat Middletown 60-54 on Tuesday at Middletown in the regular-season finale for both teams, spoiling the Mustangs” bid for a perfect league record. Two days after that loss Middletown got even behind a season-best 22 points from Kelsey Welton and 12 points from Kelsey Guzman.
The two teams split their four games during the regular season.
Veronica Wilder”s 12 points paced the Trojans, who close out the season at 8-19. Darlena White and Miranda Parks added eight points apiece.
Middletown (18-7) plays Willits tonight at 8 p.m. in the championship game. Win or lose the Mustangs advance to the North Coast Section Division IV playoffs early next week (the playoff field will be finalized on Sunday).
In other girls” action Thursday:
Willits 52, Kelseyville 38
At Lower Lake, a four-point second quarter hurt the Kelseyville Knights in their first-round loss to the Willits Wolverines.
Willits, the NCL I North runner-up behind champion Middletown this season, also beat Kelseyville in two other league meetings.
“We couldn”t hit anything,” Kelseyville coach Caitlin Andrus said of the team”s second-quarter struggles on offense.
Willits outscored Kelseyville 14-4 in the period to open up a 29-18 halftime lead.
While the Knights finished with a winning record (14-13), Andrus said a handful of missed opportunities, especially in league play, kept the team from posting a better overall mark in 2008-09.
“We played in a lot of close games and like I told the girls, it all boils down to missing a few layups and poor free-throw shooting,” Andrus said. “Defensively all of our games were pretty low scoring, but we just couldn”t generate enough offense at times.”
Skyler Olsen”s 12 points paced Kelseyville, Maille McCallister added seven and Sara Johnson had six.
“I”m proud of the girls for continuing to work hard,” said Andrus, who is already preparing for the offseason.
Cloverdale 46, Clear Lake 25
At St. Helena, the Cloverdale Eagles beat the Clear Lake Cardinals for the third time this season, including Thursday”s first-round meeting in the NCL I South postseason tournament.
Clear Lake (10-14) trailed only 16-12 after the opening period but failed to score a point in the second quarter as the Eagles moved out to a 26-12 lead.
“I felt like we started out well defensively and we were able to match it offensively,” Clear Lake coach Jennifer Goff said of the first quarter. “But we hit a dry spell in the second quarter. We couldn”t hit anything from the field and we went 0-for-6 at the line, which is unacceptable in a game like this.”
Jessica Asbury”s six points led the Cardinals and Kaila Sterbank had five.
“I was happy to keep them at 46 (points) because they”re a scoring team, but 25 points isn”t going to do it,” Goff said.
St. Helena 49, Upper Lake 20
At St. Helena, NCL I South champion St. Helena sailed past Upper Lake in a first-round game and will meet Cloverdale in tonight”s championship contest. Regardless of the outcome, the Saints are guaranteed a berth in next week”s Division IV playoffs.
St. Helena beat Cloverdale in both league meetings this season.
Upper Lake closes out the year 7-20.
“We did what we could do,” said Upper Lake coach Don Meri, who was minus two starters for the second game in a row. “Where they beat us was in transition.”
With St. Helena struggling from the field in the first half, the Cougars crept within nine points but couldn”t get any closer.
Katy DeVries led the Cougars with eight points.
“It was a really good, enjoyable group to work with,” Meri said of his players.
