LAKEPORT >> That’s 13 wins in a row for the Kelseyville Knights after taking care of business with a 68-37 victory over the Clear Lake Cardinals in North Central League I varsity girls’ basketball action on Tuesday night in Lakeport.
The win sets the stage for a titanic showdown on Friday when the Knights (12-0 league, 21-3 overall) travel to Middletown to play the Mustangs (11-1, 19-5). If Kelseyville wins that game, the league race is over.
“You play for those games all year,” Kelseyville coach Jim Hale said of Friday’s meeting with the defending league champions. “It’s going to be a tough atmosphere to play in, that’s why I’m glad we had tonight. It was a packed house for a four-game set.”
Haleigh Meyer led the Knights with a season-high 23 points while Taylor Helms led the Cardinals (6-6, 13-10) with 23.
While Meyer usually comes off the Kelseyville bench, she was in the starting lineup against Clear Lake and provided the Knights with a big boost.
“She got going right away,” Hale said. “She was running the floor real well, rebounding and getting second-chance shots.”
Heidy Cano added a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds, Alma Perez finished with 12 points and Payton Conrad had eight points and a team-leading five steals.
“Our defensive play was amazing,” Hale said. “They were playing great team defense and swarming to the ball. That’s a good team that can shoot the ball, so holding them to 37 points isn’t easy.”
Kelseyville’s Riley Goff, who wasn’t feeling well and opened the game on the bench, provided some quality minutes, especially on the defensive end, according to Hale.
“She came off the bench and did some great things,” Hale said. “It was a gutsy effort. Her defense was spot on.”
Clear Lake beat Kelseyville 50-37 in the junior varsity game.
In other girls’ action Tuesday:
Lower Lake 65, Willits 43
At Willits, the Lower Lake Trojans overwhelmed the Willits Wolverines to reach the .500 mark on the season at 12-12.
Lower Lake led 15-2 after one quarter and held Willits to eight points in the first half.
“Best defensive half we’ve had all season,” Lower Lake coach Bryce Brin said.
Claire Alderson anchored the defense by limiting Willits’ top player to just two points in the first half.
“Claire is my best defender and she worked really hard and played really smart defense,” Brin said.
Aleia Milano and Ashlynn Mock powered the Trojans, now 4-8 in league, with 17 and 15 points, respectively. Samantha Caires added 10 points and Gabby Jauregui added eight.
Lower Lake won the JV game 46-33 to improve to 12-0 in the league standings.
Upper Lake 67, Calistoga 28
At Upper Lake, the Upper Lake Cougars washed the nasty taste of back-to-back NCL II losses to St. Vincent and Rincon Valley Christian out of their mouths with a victory over the Calistoga Wildcats.
While the Cougars (8-3, 13-10) started slowly and fell behind 7-0, they scored the final 16 points of the first quarter to push in front to stay. They spent the rest of the game adding to their lead.
“Our big kids kind of took over,” Upper Lake coach Mike Smith said of Brenna Sanchez, Kejhana Taylor and Dakota Fugate.
Sanchez finished with season highs of 14 points and 26 rebounds, 16 of them on the offensive boards, while Taylor flirted with a triple-double at 17 points, 10 rebounds and seven steals. The 17 points was a season high for the junior forward.
Junior guard Natalie Karlsson led Upper Lake in the scoring column with 26 points.
When Sanchez and Taylor picked up their third fouls in the second quarter and had to retire to the bench, reserve Jessica Scroggins entered the game and played well for the Cougars, according to Smith.
“Jessica Scroggins played a lot of meaningful minutes in that first half when we got into foul trouble,” Smith said.
Scroggins also scored her first two points of the season.
Upper Lake hosts league leader Sonoma Academy (10-1) on Friday.
Upper Lake won the JV game 43-28.
Middletown 50, Fort Bragg 30
At Fort Bragg, the Middletown Mustangs shut out the Fort Bragg Timberwolves in the first quarter and went on to post an easy victory.
Middletown is 11-1 in league play and 19-5 overall. The Mustangs need a win at home on Friday against undefeated Kelseyville (12-0) to stay in the league race. If the Knights win, they clinch the outright league title.
No other game details were reported to the Record-Bee.
Boys’ basketball
K’ville 72, Clear Lake 62
At Lakeport, the Kelseyville Knights improved to 8-4 in league play with a win over archrival Clear Lake (6-6) and it was Kyle Ellis who delivered in the clutch, sinking back-to-back 3-pointers with less than two minutes to play.
“We stayed right with them until Ellis hit those back-to-back 3s,” Clear Lake coach Scott De Leon said. “That was the difference. They were contested shots, it wasn’t like he was wide open. He just knocked them down. That killed us.”
Ellis led the Knights with 24 points, including five 3-pointers, and Max De Leon powered Clear Lake with 24, 21 of them in the first half. He also sank five treys.
“We tightened up our defense a little bit in the second half,” Kelseyville coach Scott Conrad said. “Kyle had a good bounceback game after a tough one in Lower Lake.”
Stevie Diaz added 11 points and eight assists for Clear Lake. Kelseyville’s Logan Barrick had nine points and 10 rebounds.
It was the fourth meeting between the two teams this season and Kelseyville’s fourth win. The Knights are 18-6 overall with two league games remaining. The Cardinals are 14-10.
Clear Lake won the JV game 72-63.
Fort Bragg 61, M’town 58 (OT)
At Middletown, the Fort Bragg Timberwolves stayed on the fringe of the league race with an overtime victory over the last-place Middletown Mustangs.
Fort Bragg moved to 8-4 in the league standings while Middletown slipped to 1-11 and 5-17 overall.
“They’re playing so hard, we just did some things at the end that cost us,” Middletown coach G.J. Rockwell said.
The Mustangs had a 52-50 lead with 19 seconds remaining. They missed the front end of a one-and-one and committed a foul that Fort Bragg turned into two made free throws and a tie game. With the final seconds ticking away, Middletown had a chance to win it but missed an uncontested layup, sending the game into overtime.
The Timberwolves outscored the Mustangs 9-6 in the extra period.
Jake Rivera’s 22 points powered Middletown and Josh Rebolledo added 15.
Upper Lake 60, Calistoga 15
At Upper Lake, the Upper Lake Cougars are closing in on their goal of 15 wins this season after beating the Calistoga Wildcats.
Upper Lake is now 7-4 in league and 14-8 overall with three games remaining in the regular season.
“We played really well, were focused in and hustling,” Upper Lake coach Justin Dutcher said of a Cougars squad that was minus a player because of illness and had several others playing under the weather.
“We’re almost all sick,” Dutcher said. “I’m giving them the day off tomorrow (Wednesday).”
Two early 3-pointers by Derek Pritchard helped propel Upper Lake to a 19-0 lead after one quarter.
“That takes a little of the pressure off,” Dutcher joked.
The Cougars had a 34-6 halftime lead.
Isaac Nevarez led the way with 21 points, Pritchard finished with 17 and Cody Rybolt had 12.
