WILLITS — Tashee Denson provided the spark and the Lower Lake Trojans jumped out to a big lead early and stormed past the Upper Lake Cougars 48-27 in a consolation semifinal game at the Willits Tournament for varsity girls” basketball teams on Friday in Willits.
Denson, a senior, missed Lower Lake”s 59-47 opening-round loss to Hoopa on Thursday night for disciplinary reasons, according to head coach Jim Salmina.
“Tashee brought some energy to the floor,” Salmina said. “That and the (team-leading) 12 points she scored were real nice.”
Lower Lake opened the game in a press defense that paid immediate dividends.
“We pressed them early, got ahead and cruised through the rest of it,” Salmina said of the 18-6 lead the Trojans held after one quarter.
Lower Lake (4-2) increased its advantage to 35-14 by halftime and emptied its bench in the second half.
“The bench is starting to play a bigger part for us,” Salmina said of the six points contributed by Miranda Parks and four more from Mayra Nava.
Jonesha Beasley added 11 points and Amber Daniels had eight points and seven rebounds in only her second game of the season (she missed the season-opening Lake County Tournament).
“She”s another one who is going to be pretty good,” Salmina said of Daniels.
“The kids are starting to get it. Defensively we picked it up tonight,” Salmina added.
Veronica Wilder had seven points and a team-best eight assists for the Trojans.
“I looked up at the clock about two minutes into the game and it was 0-0,” Upper Lake coach Don Meri said. “Then, boom, it was 10-0.”
Meri said the Cougars simply had no answer for the Trojans” team speed.
“Their team speed all the way around is better than ours,” Meri said. “We weren”t used to their quickness.”
Ashley Arroyo was nearly all the offense Upper Lake (1-5) had in the first half as she scored 10 of team”s 14 points. Katherine Edmonds finished with eight points.
Lower Lake plays Tomales for the consolation championship today at 10:30 a.m. Upper Lake plays Mendocino in the seventh-place game at 9 a.m.
In other tournament action Friday:
Champion Christian 31, Clear Lake 30
At Colusa, Clear Lake couldn”t draw a foul during the final seven seconds and Champion Christian was able to run out the clock and beat the Cardinals in a consolation semifinal game at the Colusa Tournament.
Clear Lake had a chance to take the lead with 11 seconds left but couldn”t convert a shot inside. Champion Christian came away with the ball and held on for the win.
The Cardinals (1-5) converted just 10 of 56 shots from the field. Katie Reynolds led Clear Lake with nine points, including a pair of 3-pointers.
Boys” basketball
Branson 64, Upper Lake 20
At Boonville, the Upper Lake Cougar ran headlong into Division V powerhouse Branson in a second-round game at the Redwood Classic.
“They”re a great team,” Upper Lake coach Forrest Stogner said. “If you make mistakes they capitalize.”
The Cougars (2-1) hung tough for a half before wearing down in the third quarter.
“We played really well on defense in the first half, especially in the second quarter,” Stogner said. “We had them frustrated a couple of times and forced them to call timeouts.”
Branson put the game out of reach with a 27-4 third quarter, hitting five 3-pointers in the period.
Mike Dawson”s eight points paced the Cougars, who meet either St. Vincent or Tule Lake today at 3 p.m. in a final-round game.
St. Helena 65, Middletown 38
At St. Helena, their offense missing for the second game in a row, the Middletown Mustangs dropped a 65-38 decision to St. Helena in the winner”s semifinal round at the St. Helena Tournament.
“If we knocked any rust off last night (in a win over St. Bernard) we got it back tonight,” Middletown coach Mike Mullin said.
The biggest difference between Middletown”s performance Thursday and Friday was the Mustangs” defense — or lack there of — according to Mullin.
“Our defense was terrible tonight,” Mullin said.
St. Helena held just an 18-13 advantage after one quarter before outscoring Middletown by a combined 37-11 over the next two periods.
Cole Ballentine”s 26 points, including six 3-pointers, powered the Saints.
Bo Sheffer”s 15 points led Middletown.
