WILLITS — The Willits Wolverines clinched the undisputed North Central League I varsity girls” basketball championship Tuesday night with a dominating 83-48 victory over the visiting Lower Lake Trojans.
Willits improved to 13-0 in league play and 20-5 overall and can close out a perfect NCL I campaign with a win at home Friday against the St. Helena Saints. The victory also guarantees the Wolverines an automatic berth into the upcoming North Coast Section Division IV playoffs.
Lower Lake (9-4, 18-7) stayed close for a half before Willits pulled away during a 19-5 third quarter.
Foul trouble hurt the Trojans early on as April White, the team”s leading scorer on the season, picked up three fouls in the opening minutes of the game. She finished with only three points. Zobee Miller”s 14 points and 14 rebounds led the Trojans and Shadae White had nine points.
Whitney Dunham led the Wolverines with 31 points and Alicia Mehtlan added 22.
In other girls” basketball Tuesday:
Roseland Prep 49, Upper Lake 33
At Upper Lake, the Cougars fell to Roseland Prep in the opening round of the NCL II postseason tournament, a game the Cougars didn”t even know they were going to play.
“We had to find enough girls to play,” Upper Lake coach Mike Smith said. “We thought only the top four teams were playing.”
On Tuesday, Smith said he learned that all eight of the league”s teams were included in the single-elimination tournament.
Kat Edmonds scored 21 points to pace the Cougars.
“We had eight girls, including two that I called up,” Smith said of freshman Skylar Orozco, who had 10 rebounds and four assists, and sophomore Mara Hesterberg, who had three steals.
LaShaye Taylor scored six points for Upper Lake (12-15).
“We had nothing to lose,” Smith said of his sixth-seeded club. “We played hard, kept it light and fun.”
Cloverdale 51, Middletown 40
At Cloverdale, the Middletown Mustangs started slow and never recovered in their NCL I loss to the Cloverdale Eagles (11-2).
“We did not come over here ready to play,” Middletown coach Tony Hart said of a 29-13 halftime deficit.
“They mixed up a half-court trap with full-court man and we couldn”t do anything,” Hart said. “It was really frustrating.”
Jenny Hoefer and Amber Hart finished with eight points apiece to lead Middletown (5-8, 8-16). Rachel Sutton added seven points.
Clear Lake 45, Kelseyville 41
At Lakeport, the Clear Lake Cardinals snapped a four-game losing streak with a win over the Kelseyville Knights, a game in which both teams struggled to make a free throw in the fourth quarter.
Clear Lake (4-9, 7-12) went 3-for-17 from the stripe in the final period while Kelseyville (1-12, 3-18) went 4-for-12.
“We couldn”t make a free throw, thank goodness they couldn”t either,” Clear Lake coach Kory Reynolds said.
Both teams had trouble scoring in the final two minutes.
“It was sitting at 42-39 forever,” Reynolds said of the score.
“The girls played a really tough game,” Kelseyville coach Christina Taylor said. “They played hard and they played with heart.”
Vanessa Tullos led Clear Lake with 12 points and Morgan Psalmonds had 11. For Kelseyville, Kyra Rudnick had 12 points, Mary Brown 11 and Jeannie Johnson 10.
