ST. HELENA — A big first quarter was pretty much all the St. Helena Saints needed to beat the Upper Lake Cougars in a North Central League I South varsity girls” basketball game on Monday night in St. Helena.
St. Helena scored 29 points in the quarter while rolling to a 61-29 decision over Upper Lake.
Maddy Densberger scored 12 of her team-leading 21 points in the opening period, prompting Upper Lake coach Don Meri to switch to a box-and-one defense in order to slow down the talented 5-foot-11 St. Helena junior.
“She”s good, she can make a lot of baskets,” Meri said of Densberger, who was held to just four points over the next two quarters.
“We put Edmonds on her and she did a good job,” Meri said of Katherine Edmonds, Upper Lake”s top scorer with 14 points.
St. Helena, the defending NCL I South champ, has fallen on hard times this season as its win against the Cougars was only its second in five league games, leaving the Saints well behind South leaders Cloverdale (6-0) and St. Vincent (5-1). St. Helena is a combined 0-3 against those two teams.
Upper Lake, now 0-5 in the South and 7-16 overall, returns home tonight to play Clear Lake at 6:30 p.m.
