PEBBLE BEACH >> Tournament host Robert Louis Stevenson held a small lead at halftime, but the second half belonged to the Kelseyville Knights in a 61-41 victory in the girls’ championship game of the Stevenson Tournament on Saturday night at Pebble Beach.
Alma Perez led the Knights with 18 points and was named to the All-Tournament team as Kelseyville improved to 6-1 on the season. Payton Conrad added 16 points and Haleigh Meier another 14.
Robert Louis Stevenson held a 30-26 halftime advantage before Kelseyville’s defense went to work in the second half, limiting the Pirates to just five points in the third quarter and six in the final period.
“They have two real good players, one a guard and the other a post who is like 6-3 or 6-4,” Kelseyville coach Jim Hale said.
While the Robert Louis Stevenson guard scored 16 in the first half against the Knights, she had only four in the second half.
“I think we wore her down,” Hale said.
The Pirates’ other chief scoring threat, a post player, never got untracked against Kelseyville.
“Carli (Mendonca) and Heidy (Cano) took turns guarding her and held her to two points for the entire game,” Hale said.
Kelseyville took a 42-35 lead into the final period and continued to pull away down the stretch.
Riley Goff returned to the Kelseyville lineup after missing the Knights’ first two tournament games with a shoulder injury and scored seven points.
Mendonca pulled down nine rebounds in the win and averaged 12 boards a game during the tournament according to Hale.
Cano joined Perez on the All-Tournament team.
Kelseyville faces Orland on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in the opening round of the Orland Tournament.
