HEALDSBURG — Jenny Hoefer scored four of her six points in overtime as the Middletown Mustangs stunned the Ukiah Wildcats 43-37 in the opening round of the Redwood Empire Invitational Basketball Tournament on Wednesday in Healdsburg.
Middletown (1-2) trailed the entire way until Rachel Sutton sank a long 2-point field goal with less than a minute to play in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 33. Ukiah missed four free throws in the final seconds, sending the game into overtime.
The Mustangs scored first in the extra period on an Amber Ramponi basket and never looked back, outscoring Ukiah 10-4 in the overtime quarter.
Middletown was facing a five-point deficit late in the fourth quarter until Amber Hart, the Mustangs” top scorer with 17 points, buried a 3-pointer, her third of the night, to make it a two-point game. Sutton”s basket a few seconds later tied it. Twelve of Hart”s 17 points came after halftime.
“She sparked us, definitely,” Middletown coach Tony Hart said.
“I”ve been trying to get the girls to believe we can win a game and when we went to overtime, we knew it was our game to win,” Hart added. “I”m very proud of the girls.”
Middletown trailed 19-13 at halftime and had a hard time getting to the free-throw line during the game.
“We shot only two free throws (before the overtime),” Hart said.
Sutton finished with eight points and Hoefer and Ramponi each had six.
Middletown will play either tourney host Healdsburg or Roseland Prep of Santa Rosa in the winner”s semifinals on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
In other girls” tournament action Wednesday:
Upper Lake 54, Potter Valley 19
At Potter Valley, Kat Edmonds scored 13 of her team-leading 19 points in the second quarter as the Upper Lake Cougars, trailing 11-8 after the first period, went on to rout the Potter Valley Bearcats in the opening round of the Potter Valley Tournament.
Upper Lake improved to 4-1 on the season.
“They are in the same situation we were last year,” Upper Lake coach Mike Smith said. “They have young guards. We did a good job of forcing their guards to go to their bad hand and Kat just ate them up (in the second quarter),” Smith added.
Kelsey Pearl finished with 13 points, including all three of Upper Lake”s 3-pointers, and Amber McQueen added four points and a team-high eight steals.
“(Shayla) Wymans hustled on defense and Amber has been a really solid defensive player all year,” Smith said.
Upper Lake plays Point Arena tonight at 7:30 p.m.
Boys” basketball
Clear Lake 74, Laytonville 60
At Potter Valley, expecting to play Round Valley of Covelo, the Clear Lake Cardinals instead beat the Laytonville Warriors in the opening round of the Potter Valley Tournament.
Clear Lake (2-0) took control of the game with a 25-14 first period and continued to build on its lead through three quarters.
“We had some nice offensive rotations and we played good defense,” Clear Lake coach Glenn Wienke said. “We played much better than last night (a season-opening 82-48 win on Tuesday against Anderson Valley).”
Steven Edwards led a balanced Clear Lake attack with 18 points while Kyle Donald and Adrian Perez each had 16.
The Cardinals rec-eived solid play inside from sophomore center Gabe Strong, who added seven points.
“Gabe had a really good game under the basket,” Wienke said.
Colby Kelley”s 41 points led the Warriors.
Clear Lake draws Archbishop Hanna of Sonoma in a second-round game on Friday at 8 p.m.
Healdsburg 51, Lower Lake 28
At Healdsburg, the Lower Lake Trojans had a tough night against Healdsburg”s pressure defense, falling to the Greyhounds in the opening round of the Redwood Empire Invitational Basketball Tournament.
“We had more turnovers than points ? it was that bad,” Lower Lake coach David Graham said. “They (Greyhounds) are big and play real good defense.”
Lower Lake (0-5) trailed 18-4 after one quarter and 29-10 at halftime.
The Trojans return to action Friday at 7 p.m. against an opponent to be determined.
