MIDDLETOWN — Double-teaming Upper Lake”s Katherine Edmonds the entire way, the Middletown Mustangs beat the Cougars 40-28 in a North Central League I interlock varsity girls” basketball game on Tuesday night in Middletown.
“She”s a real sound player and we double-teamed her the whole game,” Middletown coach Marnin Pyzer said.
Edmonds finished with 15 points to lead the Cougars (3-7) but had only four field goals.
“That”s not a bad job by our defense,” Pyzer said. “We put someone in front of her and Jodi Mitchell behind her. She still got to the free-throw line a lot (going 7-for-17).”
“Kat still battled,” Upper Lake coach Mike Smith said.
The Cougars were missing four players and suited up only six for the game, leaving Smith with few options.
“We were really short-handed, but I”m proud of the girls. They”re fighting and playing hard,” Smith said.
Mitchell, who Pyzer describes as an “undersized post player (at 5-foot-7),” turned in a solid game at both ends of the floor. In addition to guarding Edmonds, she led the Mustangs (4-9) with 12 points.
“She”s a great backside rebounder,” Pyzer said. “She works hard in there and gets a lot of putbacks. She did a good job on offense and defense.”
Amber Hart and Kayla Farr added eight points apiece for the Mustangs.
In other girls” interlock action Tuesday:
Clear Lake 51, Fort Bragg 44
At Lakeport, Heather White scored a season-best 17 points and Jessica Asbury pulled down 19 rebounds to go along with 15 points as the Clear Lake Cardinals knocked off the Fort Bragg Timberwolves.
White scored inside and outside, hitting two 3-pointers.
“We shot decent,” Clear Lake coach Kory Reynolds said. “The girls are getting more confident with their shooting.”
Asbury had five defensive rebounds by halftime and added nine more in the second half as the Cardinals (4-5) limited the number of second shots by the Timberwolves.
Coree Alexander nearly gave Clear Lake a third player in double figures as she finished with nine points.
Cloverdale 62, Kelseyville 19
At Cloverdale, even when Cloverdale”s press defense didn”t force a turnover, the Eagles” pressure played havoc with Kelseyville”s half-court offense in the second meeting this season between the two teams.
“We were able to break their press,” interim Kelseyville coach John Berry said, “but by the time we got into our offense, there were only 12 seconds left (on the shot clock).”
Cloverdale beat Kelseyville 81-21 last month in the Stokes Tournament at Kelseyville.
“I”m very pleased we didn”t have the amount of turnovers we had in the Stokes Tournament,” Berry said.
Cloverdale didn”t take its press off until the fourth quarter and led 57-17 heading into the final period.
Liz Berry scored seven points and had 10 rebounds to lead the Knights (6-6) in both categories. Mary Brown added six points and Jennifer Green pulled down eight rebounds.
Mandy Spitzer, a sophomore, came off the Kelseyville bench to score four points.
“She had her best game of the year,” said Berry, who is back for his second stint with the team while head coach Deanna Goff takes a medical leave of absence.
St. Vincent 72, Lower Lake 44
At Petaluma, Nicole Hupke scored 11 of her team-leading 34 points in the third quarter as the St. Vincent Mustangs, up 37-28 at halftime, pulled away to beat the Lower Lake Trojans.
“We came out so flat ? it was a good old-fashioned butt kicking,” Lower Lake coach Jim Salmina said. “We were chasing them all night.”
St. Vincent outscored Lower Lake 22-7 in the third period to put the game away.
“It was just a real bad night for us,” Salmina said. “And it”s not going to get any easier. We play St. Helena next.”
Veronica Wilder scored a team-high 17 points, including career point No. 850, to lead the Trojans. She also had five rebounds. Jonesha Beasley added 10 points and six rebounds and April White had six points and seven rebounds.
Boys” basketball
Cloverdale 69, Kelseyville 54
At Kelseyville, Seth Lampert poured in 35 points, including seven 3-pointers, as the Cloverdale Eagles beat the Kelseyville Knights on their homecourt.
“We were terrible in our zone (defense) and even worse in our man-to-man,” Kelseyville coach Scott Conrad said.
The Knights, who were without starter Mike Davis (flu), entered the Christmas break 9-2 but have now lost two straight.
“We”ve got to pull ourselves out of that,” Conrad said. “We need to turn this thing around in a hurry.”
Cloverdale built on a 33-29 halftime lead with a 21-13 third quarter.
Wyatt Ferrell”s 17 points paced the Knights, Max Huff added 13 and Dustin Thaxton and Chris Aguon had 11 apiece.
St. Vincent 65, Lower Lake 39
At Lower Lake, a 13-4 first quarter was a sign of things to come for the Lower Lake Trojans, who struggled all night in a loss to the St. Vincent Mustangs.
“We were slow out of the gate and couldn”t get anything going,” Lower Lake coach Marty Udy said. “I was disappointed in our effort, in our enthusiasm, in our passion. I didn”t videotape the game and I”m glad now. I don”t want to see it again.”
Alphonsos Daniels scored 12 points to lead the Trojans (3-11) and Kyle Buckingham added 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Fort Bragg 61, Clear Lake 55
At Fort Bragg, leading by eight points midway through the fourth quarter, the Clear Lake Cardinals watched the Fort Bragg Timberwolves rally for the win.
“We made four quick turnovers and they scored eight unanswered points to tie the game at 49,” Clear Lake coach Glenn Wienke said. “We went flat.”
Cody Ryden”s 26 points, including four clutch free throws down the stretch, powered Fort Bragg.
Kyle Donald”s 17 points paced Clear Lake (5-7) and Steven Edwards added 16.
“Donald played a really good game,” Wienke said. “Steven always plays well.”
Middletown 60, Upper Lake 14
At Upper Lake, suiting up only six players and minus three starters, the Upper Lake Cougars fell to the Middletown Mustangs.
Luke Humphrey”s 13 points paced the Mustangs (7-5), Nick Dellia added 10 and Bo Sheffer eight.
Jared Wade scored all nine of his points for Upper Lake (1-10) on 3-pointers.
Middletown led 16-2 after one quarter and 38-8 by halftime.
