LAKE COUNTY >> A new season of high school basketball ushers in new hope for several of Lake County’s varsity basketball teams with the 2015-16 campaign about to tip off.
Upper Lake’s teams are the first to see action as they are home tonight to play Round Valley in a four-game set beginning at 3:30 p.m. at the Upper Lake gym. The varsity girls play at 6:30 p.m. and are followed by the varsity boys at 8 p.m.
The remainder of the county’s varsity teams have to wait a bit longer before starting the new season. Several open on Dec. 1: Middletown’s girls against Salesian in Richmond; the Kelseyville girls at Upper Lake; and the Lower Lake girls at home against Roseland Prep.
The remainder of the county’s teams get things rolling on Dec 3: Middletown’s boys in the opening round of the Redwood Christian Tournament in Castro Valley; the Lower Lake boys in the first round of the Sutter Home Tournament in St. Helena; the Kelseyville boys vs. South Fork and the Clear Lake boys vs. Sonoma Valley in the first round of the Stokes Tournament at Kelseyville; and the Clear Lake girls in the opening round of the Colusa Tournament.
Five Lake County teams reached the playoffs in 2014-15 although none advanced past the first round in their respective North Coast Section divisions. Postseason qualifiers among the girls were Upper Lake (22-5), North Central League I champion Middletown (20-7) and Kelseyville (16-10), while Kelseyville (18-8) and Clear Lake (11-16) qualified among the boys’ teams.
In the junior varsity ranks, the Clear Lake girls ran the table at 26-0, which should help a Cardinals varsity program that finished 10-15 overall last season. Kelseyville and Lower Lake earned a share of the NCL I boys’ championship in 2014-15, developing additional talent for their varsity programs.
Approaching the 1,000-point career milestone are four varsity veterans. Middletown senior Ashlyn Welton, who first saw varsity action at the tail end of her freshman season, is the closest with 829 points. The other three are juniors. Kelseyville High School’s Riley Goff enters the new season with 723 points while Kelseyville’s Kyle Ellis has 621. Upper Lake junior guard Natalie Karlsson is next at 559.
Among the many tournaments Lake County teams are entered in this season, a handful take place in Lake County. They are the 44th annual Stokes Tournament on Dec. 3-5 at Kelseyville (varsity boys and varsity girls); the 22nd annual Record-Bee Hoop Classic on Dec. 17-19 at Middletown (JV and varsity boys); the Chernoh Classic on Dec. 28-30 at Lower Lake (varsity boys and varsity girls); the Clear Lake JV boys’ tournament Dec. 4-5; and the Clear Lake JV girls’ tournament Dec. 11-12.
A new postseason wrinkle this year is the return of the NCL I postseason tournament on Feb. 18-19 at Mendocino College in Ukiah. The top four finishers in the varsity boys’ and varsity girls’ league standings advance.
New varsity coaches for 2015-16 are Shannon Tubbs (Lower Lake boys) and Bryce Brin (Lower Lake girls).
