FORT BRAGG >> Taylor Helms and Aliza Atkins combined for 44 of Clear Lake”s 47 points as the Cardinals struggled to beat Round Valley of Covelo 47-42 in a consolation semifinal game on Tuesday at the Vern Piver Holiday Classic in Fort Bragg.
Despite the win, which raised the Cardinals” season record to 5-6, head coach Kory Reynolds said his team”s play was lacking on all counts.
“We came out and had a sluggish start and couldn”t get anything going,” Reynolds said. “We need to play better than this.”
Helms led all scorers with 27 points, including five 3-pointers, while Atkins added 17 points, nine on 3-pointers.
Clear Lake led 15-9 after one quarter and 29-21 at the half.
The Cardinals play Etna for the consolation championship today at noon as the tournament wraps up.
In an opening-round game Monday, Clear Lake fell 58-40 to St. Bernard of Eureka despite 18 points from Helms.
“We actually played better against them (Crusaders) than we did today,” Reynolds said. “And St. Bernard is a much better team.”
Atkins had nine points in the loss.
In the tournament”s boys” bracket on Tuesday:
Clear Lake 61
Mendocino 50
Bouncing back from an ugly loss to Albany in first-round action Monday, the Clear Lake Cardinals squared their tournament record at 1-1 against the Cardinals from Mendocino High School.
Clear Lake (4-7) came out strong and led 20-3 after one quarter.
“We responded to the way we played the day before,” Clear Lake coach Scott De Leon said. “We played much better than we did the night before.”
Damian Lopez and Jared Strate scored eight points apiece in the opening period to spark the Cardinals.
Mendocino battled back to make a game of it, closing to 43-35 after three quarters.
“I”ve got to give Mendocino a lot of credit,” De Leon said. “In the middle of that giant mess down there, and with their JV coach taking over the team, they came out in the third quarter and scored 20 points and made a game of it,” De Leon added.
Mendocino”s boys” and girls” teams were originally dropped from the tournament because of a request that their players be allowed to wear “I Can”t Breathe” T-shirts during warmups, a protest in support of Eric Garner, the man who died after being placed in a choke hold by an officer with the New York Police Department. When the Mendocino boys agreed not to wear the shirts, they were reinstated. Threatened with a lawsuit, Fort Bragg officials said Monday that the players could wear the shirts during warmups and that fans wearing the T-shirts would be allowed to attend games.
Mendocino”s players didn”t wear those T-shirts on Tuesday during warmups, according to De Leon.
“They wore their school-issued warmup uniform and played their hearts out,” De Leon said.
De Leon said he didn”t know the fate of Mendocino”s varsity coach, Jim Young, who coached the team throughout the summer season and to a 7-3 record entering the tournament.
“I”d hate to think he lost his job over this,” De Leon said.
Clear Lake played solid basketball down the stretch to keep Mendocino out of the win column. Ryan Smith, who led the Cardinals with 24 points, scored eight of those in the fourth quarter, going 6-for-6 from the free-throw line. Strate and Lopez each finished with 14 points.
Clear Lake plays for the consolation championship today at 1:30 p.m.
