LOWER LAKE — The Cloverdale Eagles pulled away in the third quarter and handed the Lower Lake Trojans their first North Central League I loss, 55-48, in varsity girls” basketball action Tuesday night in Lower Lake.
Lower Lake (4-1, 13-4) entered the night tied with Willits (4-0) atop the league standings, one game ahead of Cloverdale (4-1).
“We need to pick up a win Friday (at home against Willits) and keep this thing tight,” Lower Lake coach Jim Salmina said of the NCL I race. “We played very, very hard but it was just a matter of Cloverdale wanting it a little more than we did.”
Cloverdale used a 17-6 third quarter to pull away from Lower Lake.
Kelsie Shoffeitt finished with 13 points while April White added 11 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Trojans.
Taylor Spaulding”s 23 points paced Cloverdale.
In other girls” action Tuesday:
Middletown 45, Kelseyville 25
At Middletown, a 21-7 fourth quarter propelled the Middletown Mustangs past the Kelseyville Knights in a battle of two teams looking for their first NCL I win.
Kyra Rudnick scored 16 points for the Knights (0-5, 2-11), who were without their leading scorer on the season, Mary Brown, who was serving a one-game suspension. Marie Crim led Middletown (1-4, 4-12) with 12 points, Amber Hart added 10 and both Kayla Farr and Jenny Hoefer had nine points apiece.
“Farr did a great job in the fourth quarter,” Middletown coach Tony Hart said. “She had eight of her nine points in the final four minutes, including two 3s.”
Middletown took a 24-18 lead into the fourth quarter.
Upper Lake 61, Calistoga 9
At Upper Lake, Kat Edmonds led Upper Lake with 17 points and 11 rebounds and the Cougars evened their NCL II record at 3-3 with a victory over the young Calistoga Wildcats.
Upper Lake (3-3, 8-8) led 25-2 after one quarter and never looked back.
“The girls came out in a good mood, they came out with a lot of energy and they tore it up,” Upper Lake coach Mike Smith said.
Freshman LaShaye Taylor and Kelsey Pearl each finished with 13 points.
“She (Taylor) really kind of established something good for us,” Smith said of Taylor”s play off the bench in the first quarter when she had six of her points.
Monicka Diaz added seven points and 10 rebounds and Amber McQueen had five points and 10 rebounds for the Cougars, who held Calistoga scoreless in the third quarter.
St. Helena 47, Clear Lake 39
At Lakeport, unable to mount much of an attack on offense, the Clear Lake Cardinals fell to the St. Helena Saints, who were led by Holle Depina”s 22 points.
St. Helena”s 16-5 second quarter was the difference in the game.
“We decided to turn the ball over a lot in that second quarter,” Clear Lake coach Kory Reynolds said. “And we didn”t shoot the ball well.”
Vanessa Tullos” 12 points paced Clear Lake (1-4, 4-7) and Miranda Strate added eight.
The Cardinals kept it close in the second half by hitting eight of 13 free throws.
Boys” basketball
St. Helena 73, Clear Lake 58
At St. Helena, the St. Helena Saints outscored Clear Lake 26-12 in the first quarter and rolled past the Cardinals in NCL I boys” action.
“We were just outplayed ? clearly outplayed,” Clear Lake coach Glenn Wienke said. “We got beat in the blocks tonight and they took away our transition game.”
St. Helena shut down Clear Lake”s top scorer on the season, Kyle Donald, limiting him to nine points through three quarters. While Donald went on to finish with a team-best 26, most of that came against the Saints reserves in the fourth quarter, according to Wienke.
“They took Donald out of our offense,” Wienke said.
Adrian Perez had 12 points for the Cardinals (3-2, 10-6) and Steven Edwards added 10.
Peter Del Bondio”s 16 points paced St. Helena (3-2), Ian McCaffrey had 14 and Alec Fetzer 10.
Cloverdale 56, Lower Lake 44
At Cloverdale, Jeff Davis scored 17 points but the Lower Lake Trojans again fell short, falling to the Cloverdale Eagles in NCL I action.
“We started out slow and didn”t recover,” Lower Lake coach David Graham said.
Despite a lackluster effort from the offense through three quarters ? the Trojans trailed 37-24 entering the final period ? Lower Lake did pull within seven points with three minutes remaining.
“But we had to start fouling,” Graham said. “We just couldn”t get over the hump.”
Lower Lake is 0-5 in league and 0-15 overall.
