MIDDLETOWN >> Forget about Kelseyville’s 13-game winning streak. The Middletown Mustangs made sure there would be no No. 14 on Friday night as they used a big fourth quarter to beat the Knights in a battle of North Central League I powerhouses at Middletown High School.
The final numbers were 55-45 with Kelseyville on the short end.
If the Knights had won they would be undisputed league champions. As it is, Kelseyville has to share the room at the top with the Mustangs. Each team has a league game remaining against an unimpressive foe to finish the regular season.
Kelseyville coach Jim Hale wasn’t complaining. Not with a team that’s 21-4 overall and 12-1 in league play.
“It’s all right,” he said. “I think we were a little keyed up for this game. I’ll say we could have played a little better. But we’re going to get another shot at them. We play them again next week.”
Hale’s reference was to the league’s postseason tournament on Feb. 18-19 at Mendocino College in Ukiah. If the Knights and Mustangs (12-1, 20-5) win their first-round games on Feb. 18, they’ll meet on Feb. 19 in the championship game. And the outcome of that game has meaning because it could determine which team gets the league’s automatic berth into the North Coast Section playoffs.
The Knights on Friday night were middlin’ good, meaning they played well in the middle of the game but were shaky at both ends.
They led 32-31 as the game entered the fourth quarter but sagged as the intensity built. Middletown took over the lead permanently with four minutes remaining and built on a 50-44 lead over the last 3:21.
“It’s a veteran team, we’ve been here before,” Middletown coach Anthony Bazzano said of his defending league champions. “We were down seven at one point in the third quarter but there was no panic. My veterans knew what they needed to do.”
Middletown outscored Kelseyville 24-13 in the final period. Makenzi Smith tallied seven of her team-leading 15 points in the quarter, Kaleigh Alves had six of her 10 in the period, and Ashlyn Welton, who was shut out by the Kelseyville defense in the first three quarters, scored all five of her points down the stretch.
“We knocked down the shots when we needed to,” Bazzano said.
In the early going Kelseyville had turned the ball over eight times by the time the second quarter began, which led to an 11-4 Middletown lead.
Kelseyville battled back with an 18-7 second quarter, going 10-for-14 from the free-throw line in the period, to open up a 22-18 halftime lead.
While Smith and Emily Lescher (12 points) led the Mustangs in the scoring column, the play of Alves also was critical as she came up with key steals at pivotal moments of the game.
Riley Goff’s 15 points powered the Knights while Heidy Cano added 10.
