KELSEYVILLE >> Even when its not firing on all cylinders, the Kelseyville High School offense never seems to lack for points. Case in point was the Knights’ 71-46 North Central League I win over the Lower Lake Trojans on Saturday afternoon in Kelseyville.
Even with starter Riley Goff not feeling well and limited to just two points, the Knights had little problem improving to 11-0 in league play and registering their 20th victory overall this season against only three losses.
“We’re playing at a really good level but I don’t feel like we’ve peaked yet,” Kelseyville coach Jim Hale said.
Kelseyville’s ball distribution was excellent against a Lower Lake team that always seemed to be a step behind. The Knights involve all their players in the offense, which is one reason why they can weather the storm when one starter isn’t going well for whatever reason.
“They’re unselfish and they would rather win than worry about who scores how many points,” Hale said. “They put in a lot of time to get better with their ballhandling and they are playing together as a team, as a cohesive unit.”
Alma Perez continued her red-shot scoring ways of late with a team-best 25 points. Haleigh Meyer added another 16 points while Payton Conrad and Heidy Cano contributed 10 apiece. Inside or outside, the Knights are capable of putting the ball in the bucket.
“She’s really coming along,” Hale said of the junior Perez, who is now the team’s leading scorer on the season.
Cano’s play in the paint has been no less impressive, both as a scorer, rebounder and a defender.
“She’s taken a big step the last couple of weeks.”
Cano led the Knights with nine rebounds while Conrad, who is only a freshman, had four of the team’s 12 steals.
While the two teams matched each other nearly shot for shot in the first quarter with Kelseyville emerging with a 21-15 lead, the Knights were able to maintain that pace in the second quarter while putting the clamps on Lower Lake’s offense. It was 41-21 by halftime and the Trojans (3-8, 11-12) were never close in the second half.
Samantha Caires and Aleia Milano led Lower Lake with 12 and 11 points, respectively. Claire Alderson added seven.
More than half of the Trojans’ points came on 3-pointers – they made eight to the Knights’ three to no avail.
Lower Lake won the junior varsity game 52-47 to remain undefeated in league play at 11-0 while Kelseyville slipped to 8-3.
Vanessa Hughes powered the Trojans with 20 points, Anahi Robles added 13 and Ayvree Smith had 10. Bailey Couey’s 13 points sparked the Knights. Brisa Villa joined her in double figures with 13 and Tymeka Green nine.
In other varsity girls’ action Saturday:
Clear Lake 40, Fort Bragg
At Lakeport, it wasn’t their best performance of the season or even close, but the Clear Lake Cardinals still came away with a victory against the Fort Bragg Timberwolves.
“I think they were making more mistakes than we were making,” Clear Lake coach Kory Reynolds said of the Timberwolves (4-7).
Clear Lake (6-5, 13-9) trailed 19-16 at halftime and led 29-27 heading into the final period.
“Donald hits a couple of big 3s for us in the second half and all of her (10) points came in the second half,” Reynolds said.
Valerie Hutton also connected from behind the 3-point arc twice in the third quarter. All nine of her points came on 3-pointers.
While Clear Lake has been eliminated from the league race, the Cardinals are currently in fourth place in the standings, which would secure them a spot in the league’s postseason tournament Feb. 18-19 at Mendocino College in Ukiah.
Taylor Helms led the team with 12 points. The senior guard was honored during a pregame ceremony during which she received a cased and autographed basketball after scoring career point No. 1,000 on Thursday in a league win at St. Helena.
The Cardinals host undefeated Kelseyville (11-0) tonight at 6:30 p.m.
Clear Lake beat Fort Bragg 58-24 in the JV game behind 13 points from Grace Davidson and nine from Kortnie Reynolds.
Boys’ basketball
St. Helena 56, M’town 45
At St. Helena, the Middletown Mustangs beat St. Helena 54-39 last month in Middletown but couldn’t repeat that kind of effort against the Saints on the road.
St. Helena’s win drops Middletown into the league basement at 1-10. The Saints improve to 2-9.
“We’re playing hard but the ball is just not bouncing our way,” Middletown coach G.J. Rockwell said.
Thomas Cook led the Mustangs with 18 points and Jake Rivera had eight. Middletown is 5-16 overall.
JV basketball
K’ville 40, Lower Lake 39
At Lower Lake, in a battle of 8-2 teams entering play, the Kelseyville Knights got a late bucket from Vermontay Luia to edge the Lower Lake Trojans.
“It was a pretty exciting win,” Kelseyville coach Rich Facey said.
Jose Villa scored 10 of his team-leading 14 points in the fourth quarter to power Kelseyville. Luia finished with 13 points and teammate Adrian Villalobs added 10.
Taylor Scott’s eight points led the Trojans, who had a six-game league winning streak snapped.
Kelseyville is 17-6 overall.
