FORT BRAGG — The Lower Lake Trojans led from opening tip to final buzzer while routing the Fort Bragg Timberwolves 52-20 in the North Central League I North opener for both of these varsity girls” basketball teams on Friday in Fort Bragg.
Even so, Lower Lake coach Jim Salmina said it was tough to concentrate on the business at hand given the untimely death of Kelseyville”s Jared Templeton earlier this week. The 2007 Kelseyville High graduate was a former player for Salmina during his days as the Knights” junior varsity football head coach.
“It”s been on mind and I watched the game with a heavy heart,” Salmina said. “It puts everything you do in perspective and sets you back a little bit. I couldn”t sleep last night. One day he”s here and one day he”s not.”
The Trojans (1-0, 12-6) jumped out to a 4-0 lead and never looked back. They led 11-7 after one quarter, 26-12 at halftime and 39-16 after three quarters.
“We played a very solid game, good scoring balance,” Salmina said.
Jonesha Beasley and Tashee Denson led the Trojans with eight points apiece, Katie Swalve added seven and Katreena Galindo, Veronica Wilder and Amber Daniels had six apiece.
“I thought April did an outstanding job,” Salmina said of White, who finished the game with four points, eight rebounds, five steals and two blocks.
Wilder led the team with six assists.
“We played with a lot of energy,” Salmina said.
In other girls” action Friday:
Cloverdale 67, Clear Lake 31
At Lakeport, Sara Gambetta scored 20 points and Whitney Edens had 15 as the Cloverdale Eagles overpowered the Clear Lake Cardinals in the NCL I South opener for both teams.
Cloverdale outscored Clear Lake (0-1, 5-10) by an 18-0 margin in the second quarter to open up a 37-8 halftime lead.
“We made some mistakes trying to get around their pressure, but they”re a good team and they cause a lot of turnovers with that pressure,” Clear Lake coach Jennifer Goff said. “We couldn”t get our offense off the ground in the second quarter.”
Clear Lake had just 15 shots in the first half.
Katie Reynolds” 17 points paced the Cardinals and Jessica Asbury had seven points and eight rebounds.
St. Vincent 52, Upper Lake 28
At Petaluma, the St. Vincent Mustangs built a 35-10 first-half lead and never looked back in their NCL I South opener against the Upper Lake Cougars.
“You go into a game struggling and you feel like everything is going against you,” Upper Lake coach Don Meri said. “We just can”t hit anything right now.”
Upper Lake (0-1, 7-11) scored five points in each of the first two quarters.
Haley Loberg led St. Vincent with 18 points.
“She has some real good post moves down low,” Meri said of Loberg. “She was tough.”
Felicia Valdez and Katherine Edmonds led the Cougars with eight points apiece and Taryn Re added seven.
“St. Vincent is a pretty good ballclub,” Meri said.
Boys” basketball
Willits 73, Kelseyville 66
At Willits, ahead 18-5 after one quarter, the Willits Wolverines withstood a fierce Kelseyville comeback in the second half to beat the Knights in the NCL I North opener for both teams.
Willits led 18-5 after one quarter and 39-20 at halftime.
“We came out not ready to play,” Kelseyville coach Scott Conrad said. “We didn”t play much better in the second quarter, but the nice thing about these kids is they don”t make excuses. We came out in the second half and played great.”
The Knights crept to within six points of the Wolverines late in the fourth quarter but couldn”t get any closer.
“We did a lot of things on the fly in the fourth quarter,” Conrad said. “This is a game we”ll be able to take some positive things out of.”
Tim Compton”s 32 points led the Wolverines while Peter Wotherspoon”s 27 points and six assists paced Kelseyville (0-1, 7-9).
“Wotherspoon was great again,” Conrad said. “He is the glue that”s holding us together.”
Max Huff added 22 points and 13 rebounds and Mike Allen had 11 points.
St. Vincent 52, Upper Lake 24
At Upper Lake, the Upper Lake Cougars couldn”t find the range from the floor or free-throw line all night and fell to the St. Vincent Mustangs in the NCL I South opener for both teams.
“We didn”t have that many turnovers, which is normally what kills us, we just couldn”t shoot,” Upper Lake coach Forrest Stogner said of the Cougars” 10-for-59 night from the field (17 percent) and 4-for-14 effort from the free-throw line.
St. Vincent led 20-6 after one quarter and 35-10 by halftime.
Tyler Warren”s 10 points led the Cougars. Mike Cox added nine points and a team-high 12 rebounds while Brandon Bills had 10 boards.
Andrew Meiswinkel”s 19 points led St. Vincent.
Middletown 82, M”town alumni 66
At Middletown, Bo Sheffer”s 17 points paced the Mustangs and John Hays added 16 as the Middletown varsity beat the Middletown alumni in an exhibition game.
Garrett Young led the alumni with 13 points, Zack Strickler chipped in with 11 and Curtis Woodard had 10.
“We had a good turnout,” Middletown coach Mike Mullin said. “It was a lot of fun.”
