WILLITS — In their fourth meeting of the season and their third at Willits, this much can be said of the 2010-11 varsity girls” basketball series between the Lower Lake Trojans and Wolverines: it”s all about home sweet home.
Willits, behind 31 points from Whitney Dunham and 21 from Brenna Jessup, smacked the Trojans 76-53 in a North Central League I North playoff game on Saturday evening in Willits.
At stake in this battle of league co-champions was an automatic berth in the North Coast Section Division IV playoffs, which open Wednesday. Lower Lake (17-9) will now have to hit the road to play Branson School of Ross in a first-round game at 8 p.m. at the College of Marin.
Willits (14-12) hosts Justin-Siena of Napa on Wednesday at 7 p.m. Should Lower Lake and Willits both pull off first-round upsets, they would face each other in the quarterfinals on Saturday night in Willits, where the Wolverines have beaten the Trojans three times this season, the last two by 20 or more points. Lower Lake did win 50-38 in the only meeting at Lower Lake.
As lopsided as the final score was in meeting No. 4 between the two teams, Lower Lake trailed by only five points with four minutes remaining when Dunham, Jessup and Chelsea Duran seized control of the game and never let go.
“Dunham went off on us,” Lower Lake coach Jim Salmina said. “And that Duran girl (Chelsea Duran) scored eight of her 13 points in the fourth quarter. After we cut it to five, everything broke loose on us.”
Willits outscored Lower Lake 22-8 in the final period.
“They were too physical, I think, and the refs let you play up there,” Salmina said of the banging going on on the court. “They were tough on us.”
Lower Lake stayed close for the better part of 3 ? quarters. Willits led 15-12 after one period and 32-26 at the half. The Wolverines took a nine-point lead in the foruth quarter.
Veronica Wilder”s 15 points, including four 3-pointers, led the Trojans. Kelsie Shoffeitt added 13 more and Jonesha Beasley had 12.
Though the Trojans were hoping for a better outcome, Salmina said it”s important for his players to remember how far they”ve come the last two seasons, going from league also-rans to North co-champions.
“It”s remarkable,” Salmina said of the progress the team has made. “Usually it takes three or four years to get a program going and they”ve done it in two. They should be proud.”
