SANTA ROSA — In a rematch of their North Central League II opener won 40-34 by Upper Lake on Dec. 20 in Upper Lake, the Rincon Valley Christian Eagles evened the season series against the Cougars with a 38-26 victory in the girls” consolation semifinals of the Rincon Valley Christian Tournament on Thursday in Santa Rosa.
“Even in the game we won we turned it over way too much, but we got scoring,” Upper Lake coach Mike Smith. “Today we didn”t get the scoring.”
Turnovers continue to plague the Cougars (6-4), according to Smith, who said his players” inability to control the ball took a toll on the team”s confidence as the game progressed Thursday.
“It really wore down our confidence,” Smith said.
In a contest tied 11-11 at halftime, Rincon Valley”s offense finally came alive during a 15-7 third quarter.
Upper Lake, heavily dependent on Kat Edmonds” scoring, did get 11 points from their star but not much from anyone else for the second straight day.
“They did a terrific job of making Kat work for those 11 points,” Smith said of the Eagles” defense. “They didn”t quite double-team her, but they made a point of knowing where she was on the court at all times.”
Upper Lake plays Marin Academy of San Rafael today at 9:30 a.m. in the seventh-place game.
“I”m looking to our captains to get us going,” Smith said.
Sophia Gaorian”s 19 points paced Rincon Valley Christian.
Upper Lake resumes its NCL II schedule on Tuesday with a home game against Tomales at 6:30 p.m.
On the varsity boys” side of the bracket Thursday, Sonoma Academy defeated Upper Lake in the consolation semifinals, dropping the Cougars, now 1-8 on the season, into today”s seventh-place game. The final score and other game statistics were not reported to the Record-Bee.
Editor”s note: Go to twitter@briansumpter2 for high school scores and highlights.
