SANTA ROSA >> Upper Lake stayed close for a half before the Sonoma Academy Coyotes, defending North Central League II champions, pulled away in the third quarter and went on to beat the Upper Lake Cougars 45-34 in varsity girls’ basketball action on Tuesday night in Santa Rosa.
Both teams entered play 4-0 in league. In fact, the Coyotes are still undefeated on the season at 13-0 while Upper Lake had its five-game winning streak snapped and is now 9-8 overall.
“We’re going to use it as a road map for where we need to be for the second half of the season,” Upper Lake coach Mike Smith said of the team’s first loss of the calendar year.
The Coyotes went out of their way all game to make life miserable for Upper Lake junior guard Natalie Karlsson, who entered play averaging 22.5 points a game but was held to a season-low seven. Double-teamed throughout the game, Karlsson was able to work the ball to her teammates, who took advantage in the first half.
“We were able to get scoring in the first half from our other players, but not in the second half,” Smith said.
Upper Lake trailed just 23-20 at the half. Sonoma Academy quickly pushed its lead into double digits in the third quarter and led 36-25 entering the final period.
“We missed four or five layups in the third quarter and we have to be able to score on those. It got us frustrated and heads down,” Smith said.
Brenna Sanchez led the Cougars with 13 points and Kejhana Taylor had seven.
