KELSEYVILLE >> The 45th annual Stokes Invitational Basketball Tournament tips off Thursday morning at Kelseyville High School. There are eight-team varsity boy and girls brackets with standard winner’s and loser’s brackets. Final-round games are Saturday.
Besides the tournament-host Kelseyville boys and girls, other Lake County teams competing in this year’s Stokes include the Upper Lake boys and girls as well as the Clear Lake boys.
Rounding out the boys field are Sonoma Valley, Rancho Cotate, Elsie Allen, South Fork and Technology. Rounding out the girls field are Cloverdale, Rancho Cotate, Ferndale, Orland, South Fork and St. Helena.
The early game each of the three tournament days starts at 9 a.m. and the late game is 7:30 p.m.
In first-round action Thursday, the Cloverdale and Upper Lake girls get things started at 9 a.m. and will be followed by the St. Helena-Kelseyville girls at 10:30 a.m., the Rancho Cotate-Upper Lake boys at noon, the Technology-Kelseyville boys at 1:30 p.m, the Orland-South Fork girls at 3 p.m., the Elsie Allen-South Fork boys at 4:30 p.m., the Rancho Cotate-Ferndale girls at 6 p.m., and the Clear Lake-Sonoma Valley boys at 7:30 p.m.
Winner’s and loser’s semifinal-round games are held Friday while the seventh-place, consolation, third-place and championship games take place Saturday.
A year ago at the Stokes, Kelseyville defeated Clear Lake 63-51 in the boys championship game while Cloverdale beat Kelseyville 40-33 to claim its second straight Stokes girls title. Upper Lake finished third with a 54-44 win over St. Helena.
Upper Lake’s and Kelseyville’s varsity boys and girls teams should each have a game under their belts by Thursday’s Stokes openers because they are scheduled to play Tuesday in Upper Lake.
The Stokes Invitational is the longest running basketball tournament in Lake County.
