VALLEJO >> There may come a point this season when the Middletown Mustangs finally put it all together. Coach Anthony Bazzano can’t wait.
“We’re doing just enough not to get these wins,” Bazzano said of a 29-26 loss to Liberty High School of Brentwood on Wednesday during play in the West Coast Jamboree at Jesse M. Bethel High School in Vallejo.
Middletown fell to 1-7, its worst start in many seasons, despite taking an 18-13 lead midway through the third quarter.
“We literally went to sleep for the next eight minutes,” Bazzano said.
Middletown still had a two-point lead with a minute remaining when Liberty hit a long 3-pointer to push in front to stay.
“It was a prayer,” Bazzano said of the Liberty trey.
The Mustangs had several opportunities to take the lead in the closing seconds, including a Makenzi Smith 3-pointer that just missed the mark.
The Lions (6-6) sank two free throws in the final seconds to go up by three.
“These are the ones that hurt,” Bazzano said of a game during which the Mustangs turned the ball over more times than they had points.
“We battled and the girls played really well in stretches,” Bazzano said. “But eight minutes of hibernation cost us.”
The West Coast Jamboree continues today with Middletown playing Pinole Valley at 11:30 a.m. at Jesse M. Bethel High School.
Clear Lake 55, Calistoga 15
At Fort Bragg, Clear Lake coach Kory Reynolds said he was so upset with the play of his defense in the second quarter that he broke his 20-year-old chalkboard during halftime.
The Cardinals responded by holding Calistoga scoreless in the second half. In fact, other than a 14-point second quarter by the Wildcats, who trailed 25-15 at the intermission, Clear Lake allowed a grand total of one point between the first, third and fourth quarters combined.
Valerie Hutton, playing in only her second game of the season because of an ankle injury that sidelined her for the Cardinals’ first nine game, led Clear Lake with 25 points, including five 3-pointers.
“It’s nice to get her back,” Reynolds said of the junior guard. “It’s nice to get her into a little bit of a groove.”
Kiana Richardson added 11 points and Corin Alakszay had eight as the Cardinals improved to 7-4 on the season. They’ll face either Fortuna or Anderson tonight in the championship game at 6:30 p.m. as the Fort Bragg Tournament wraps up its three-day run.
Clear Lake defeated Freedom of Oakley 43-36 in opening-round action Tuesday behind 11 points from Hutton and 10 from Reynolds. The Cardinals never trailed in the game and held a double-digit lead throughout most of the fourth quarter.
“The girls played really, really well on defense,” Reynolds said.
