KENTFIELD — No great finish to be sure, but the Lower Lake Trojans turned in a solid 2010-11 season, one that ended with a 64-27 loss to Branson School of Ross on Wednesday night in the opening round of the North Coast Section Division IV girls” basketball playoffs at the College of Marin.
Branson (25-5), the No. 4 seed in the Division IV field, advances to the quarterfinal round on Saturday against No. 5 Justin-Siena (23-6) of Napa. Justin-Siena routed Willits, 70-29, in first-round action Wednesday at Willits.
Lower Lake and Willits tied for the North Central League I North championship this season.
Coach Jim Salmina, in only his second year at the helm of the Trojans, said prior to Wednesday”s action that Lower Lake needed to bring its “A game” to the College of Marin to have any chance of upending the Bulls, who were second in the Marin County Athletic League this season. That didn”t happen.
“We missed a lot of shots,” Salmina said. “The kids came out fired up, but maybe we were too amped up.”
Branson, a perennial playoff contender, led 27-12 after one quarter.
“They”re a real decent team and everything they shot went in,” Salmina said. “They”re fundamentally sound and they don”t make mistakes.”
The Bulls had the game well in hand with a 41-14 halftime lead. Their advantage was 56-16 after three quarters.
“I believe in my heart that if we had shot out normal percentage we would have been in the 40s,” Salmina said. “But they probably still beat us.”
Veronica Wilder scored 10 points in her final high school game and Jonesha Beasley added eight points, six rebounds and five steals as the Trojans wrapped up the season at 17-10.
Wilder, a four-year varsity veteran, closes out her career with 1,048 points.
“We never talked about it once,” Salmina said of Wilder”s pursuit of 1,000 points this season, a milestone also reached by her older sister Katie at Lower Lake. “We didn”t talk about it until she had done it.”
Salmina said he”ll miss all his seniors — Wilder, Beasley, Mayra Nava, Miranda Parks and Amber Daniels.
“They all had good years,” Salmina said.
April White, a junior, had six points and a team-high 11 rebounds for the Trojans.
Lower Lake has made the playoffs in each of its first two seasons under Salmina, who also took the Kelseyville Knights to the playoffs seven times in nine seasons before moving to Lower Lake.
“It”s tough to win in the playoffs,” Salmina said. “First we have to establish ourselves in our own league and we did that this year.
“It was a great season and I”m happy with what they accomplished,” Salmina added.
