KELSEYVILLE >> Kelseyville’s defense clamped down hard on Clear Lake’s top two scorers and the Knights improved to 5-0 in the North Central League I standings with a dominating 68-39 victory over the Cardinals in varsity girls’ basketball action on Tuesday night in Kelseyville.
Kelseyville’s win along with Middletown’s victory over Fort Bragg on Tuesday sets up a battle of 5-0 teams on Friday in Kelseyville.
While the temptation was there to look ahead to the Middletown game, Kelseyville coach Jim Hale said that wasn’t the case with his players.
“They were focused on the job we had to do tonight and they did it,” Hale said. “Now they’re pretty pumped up about it (the Middletown game).”
Kelseyville’s strategy was to make things as difficult as possible for Clear Lake guards Taylor Helms and Valerie Hutton, according to Hale.
“We put some pressure on their guards and they have two really good ones,” Hale said of Helms, who finished with 14 points, and Hutton, who had six.
“Our help defense was really good with our post players able to help out (our guards) when they tried to go inside,” Hale said.
Kelseyville led 14-8 after one quarter 34-17 by halftime. The Knights continued to pull away right up until the final buzzer.
Alma Perez led a balanced Knights scoring attack with 21 points, Riley Goff added 18, Heidy Cano had 12, and Haleigh Meyer finished with eight. Meyer also came off the bench to pull down seven rebounds. Perez sank five 3-pointers.
“Meyer and (Carli) Mendonca came off the bench and gave us a spark with their rebounding,” Hale said. “And Haleigh also had eight points.”
Corin Alakszay had six points for Clear Lake (2-3, 9-7). Kelseyville is 14-3 overall.
