LOWER LAKE >> Something had to give and something did on Tuesday night as the Lower Lake Trojans and Clear Lake Cardinals met in the final game of the regular season with a share of the North Central League I varsity girls basketball championship going to the winner.
And that co-champion is Lower Lake by a 41-33 final score.
Two more evenly matched teams you couldn’t find going into Tuesday’s action. Both brought 11-2 league and 18-7 records into the game. The only previous meeting between the two teams went to Clear Lake, 60-46, on Jan. 24 in Lakeport.
“It’s exciting,” Lower Lake coach Dave Milano said of winning a share of the title. “It was our goal from the beginning, maybe a lofty one. We’re all real excited. It beats going 4-10 like we did last year.”
Lower Lake and Kelseyville, a 54-16 winner over St. Helena on Tuesday, finish tied atop the league standings, both at 12-2. They’ll join Clear Lake (11-3) and Cloverdale (9-5) in the NCL I postseason tournament beginning Thursday at Mendocino College in Ukiah. First-round winners Thursday play for the tourney championship on Saturday, but the results won’t affect the outcome of the regular-season league race.
While a co-championship was at stake on Tuesday, neither team played like it early on. Lower Lake led just 4-2 after one quarter and it was only 15-9 in the Trojans’ favor at halftime.
Good defense?
“To be honest, both teams had a miserable shooting night,” Milano said.
Aleia Milano led the Trojans with 20 points, the only Lower Lake player to score more than five. Corin Alakszay and Kortnie Reynolds led the Cardinals with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
“I am really proud of the way we ran our man-to-man defense,” Milano said.
