KELSEYVILLE >> No sweep for Clear Lake.
Riley Goff led a balanced Kelseyville scoring attack with 12 points and the Knights beat the Clear Lake Cardinals 42-30 on Tuesday night during North Central League I varsity girls’ basketball action in Kelseyville.
Avenging a 48-43 loss to Clear Lake on Jan. 16 in Lakeport, Kelseyville (8-3 league, 14-8 overall) maintained its hold on second-place in the league standings with the victory. A loss would have dropped the Knights into a second-place tie with Clear Lake (6-5, 10-12) and Willits while also giving the Cardinals a season sweep of Kelseyville.
Taylor Helms did most of Clear Lake’s scoring with 16 points.
Kelseyville’s defense limited Clear Lake to a grand total of 16 points during the final three quarters and to a single free throw in the second period. The Knights, trailing 14-7 after the first quarter, rallied for a 22-15 halftime lead and never looked back.
“We made a couple of defensive adjustments (after the first quarter) and the team stepped up and played great,” Kelseyville coach Jim Hale said. “It was a great defensive team effort by the girls.”
Alma Perez, Haleigh Meyer and Mary McCallister led the charge on the defensive end, according to Hale.
“Those three really stood out,” he said.
Despite being the target of a box-and-one defense used by Clear Lake, Goff, the county’s scoring leader, still managed to lead the Knights.
“She was still able to scratch out 12 points, which is pretty good,” Hale said.
“It was a good defensive game by both teams,” Clear Lake coach Kory Reynolds said. “We tried to make them spread their scoring out and they just did a little bit better of a job than we did. They left our wings open but we couldn’t hit a shot.”
Perez and Heidy Cano scored nine and eight points, respectively, for Kelseyville.
After Helms’ 16 points, Clear Lake’s scoring fell off to five by Jasmine Rice and four by Aliza Atkins.
