POTTER VALLEY — Playing their first game just 11 days into the 2009-2010 season, the Upper Lake Cougars did well enough to rout the Potter Valley Bearcats 62-14 in non-league varsity boys” basketball action on Friday night in Potter Valley.
“We won but we weren”t ready,” Upper Lake coach Forrest Stogner said. “For a first game I guess we were OK, but he have a lot of work to do everywhere. We hustled real well and were quicker than they were.”
Nick Schell”s triple-double of 12 points, 11 steals and 10 rebounds carried the Cougars (1-0) to their initial victory of the new season. Andrew O”Meara also had 12 points and Nick Palomo added nine.
Upper Lake led 18-6 after one quarter and 34-8 at halftime.
All 11 Upper Lake players scored at least two points.
Upper Lake also won the junior varsity game 54-12 behind 21 points from Joe Valdez.
The Cougars are off until Dec. 3 when they open play in the Redwood Classic in Boonville.
Lake County Tournament
At Lower Lake, the annual Lake County girls” tournament, a round-robin competition featuring all of the county”s varsity and junior varsity teams, got under way with first-round games at Lower Lake High School.
In the varsity division, Upper Lake beat Clear Lake 39-25 and Kelseyville defeated Middletown 54-31. In the JV division, Clear Lake beat Upper Lake 25-17 and Kelseyville defeated Middletown 26-20.
In Kelseyville”s varsity win over Middletown, Skyler Olsen led the Knights (1-0) with 16 points but it was the overall play of junior Morgan Shannon, who had 10 points, that caught the eye of coach Caitlin Andrus.
“She was everywhere,” Andrus said. “She had a great game.”
Sarah Johnson had nine points, including two 3-pointers, for the Knights, who led 30-11 at halftime.
Alexis Rockwell”s 16 points paced Middle-town (0-1).
In Upper Lake”s varsity win over Clear Lake, Sierra Coleman led the Cougars with 10 points and Felicia Valdez added eight. Jessica Asbury”s eight points paced Clear Lake and Mari Jordan had seven.
The tournament schedule (see top right of page) continues on Monday. Other tournament days are Wednesday, Friday, Nov. 27 and Saturday, Nov. 28.
All games take place at Lower Lake High School”s new gymnasium.
