FORT BRAGG — Veronica Wilder is knocking on the door.
The senior guard for the first-place Lower Lake High School varsity girls” basketball team scored 18 points on Friday night to lead the Trojans to their eighth straight victory, a 49-43 win over the Fort Bragg Timberwolves in a North Central League I North game at Fort Bragg.
While Lower Lake imp-roved to a North-best 5-0 and Fort Bragg fell to a league-worst 0-5, Wilder moved to within 13 points of becoming the 37th Lake County player to score 1,000 points for a career. The four-year varsity veteran needs 13 more to reach the milestone and she”ll get her first chance to do it on Tuesday when the Trojans host the Kelseyville Knights. If Wilder misses there, her next opportunity will be next Friday in a first-place showdown at Willits.
Wilder”s older sister Katie, a 2003 Lower Lake graduate, scored 1,121 points in four seasons for the Trojans, missing most of her senior year with a knee injury.
“She was in foul trouble and missed a lot of the third quarter and fourth quarter,” Lower Lake coach Jim Salmina said of Wilder, who is averaging better than 16 points a game, tops in Lake County.
However, Wilder”s value to the team isn”t only as a scorer — she”s also among team leaders in virtually every other statistical category, according to Salmina.
“She is our foundation for everything that we do,” Salmina said.
Lower Lake, now 15-7 overall, has won 10 of its last 11.
While Wilder was closing in on 1,000 points against the Timberwolves, teammates April White and Amber Daniels also turned in solid efforts against a Fort Bragg team that refused to go away down the stretch.
White had 11 points and a team-high 14 rebounds while Daniels added seven points and 11 rebounds.
Lower Lake took a 27-13 lead into halftime but Fort Bragg fought back to 33-25 after three quarters and went on to outscore the Trojans 18-16 in the final period.
“I thought Fort Bragg played outstanding,” Salmina said. “They could have easily rolled over in that second half.
“It just goes to show that you just can”t show up. You have to play every minute of every game,” Salmina added.
Cheri Ryden”s 17 points paced the Timberwolves and Sabrina Rowan had nine.
