LAKE COUNTY >> Four out of five of Lake County’s varsity girls basketball teams are moving on to the North Coast Section Division IV basketball playoffs and all four put their seasons on the line Wednesday night in first-round games.
Of those four teams, Kelseyville (25-3) and Lower Lake (19-8) compete in Division IV while Clear Lake (18-9) and Upper Lake (15-11) play in Division V. Kelsevyille and Clear Lake each open at home while Lower Lake and Upper Lake hit the road. Kelseyville, the No. 7 seed in the 14-team Division IV field, hosts Fortuna (17-7) at 8 p.m. while Clear Lake, the No. 8 seed in the 16-team Division V field, entertains No. 9 Holy Names (20-4) of Oakland at 7 p.m.
Lake County’s road warriors in the opening round are No. 12 Lower Lake at No. 5 Marin Catholic (17-10) at 6:30 p.m. and No. 16 Upper Lake at No. 1 Convent of the Sacred Heart (21-4) at 7 p.m.
Division IV
Despite sharing the North Central League I championship this season, Kelseyville and Lower Lake ended up five seeds apart in the Division IV field. The Knights certainly got an added bump from winning the NCL I postseason tournament and also from their 25 regular-season wins.
Kelseyville and Lower Lake are on opposite sides of the Division IV bracket that features defending state champion Cardinal Newman (25-3) of Santa Rosa as the No. 1 seed. Unless both Lake County teams reach the finals, they won’t see each other.
Kelseyville and Fortuna played one common opponent this season, Clear Lake. The Knights won all three of their meetings with the Cardinals while Fortuna beat Clear Lake 51-33.
If the Knights get past the Huskies in the opening round, they’ll hit the road Saturday to play No. 2 seed St. Joseph Notre Dame (24-4) of Alameda in the quarterfinals.
Lower Lake and Marin Catholic had no common opponents during the regular season. While the Trojans are facing a perennial Division IV playoff team in the Wildcats, Lower Lake coach Dave Milano said his squad simply needs to focus on playing well and hitting its shots, something the Trojans didn’t do in a 52-41 loss to Cloverdale in the opening round of the North Central League I postseason tournament on Thursday in Ukiah.
“It’s not unrealistic that if we play well we can hang in there with them,” Milano said.
The Wildcats don’t rely nearly as much on the 3-point shot as the Trojans do. In fact, Milano said his daughter, junior guard Aleia Milano, has attempted more 3-pointers and made more 3-pointers than the entire Marin Catholic roster combined.
“If we can make them shoot from the outside, close down the inside, we might be able to make a game of it,” Milano said.
Milano said he took the Trojans’ No. 12 seeding in stride given the strength of the Division IV field.
“I was OK with it. Our mindset was to get here (to the playoffs) this season.”
However, Milano said he is feeling good about his team’s chances given that the Trojans played St. Patrick/St. Vincent (19-7) of Vallejo, the No. 4 seed in the Division IV field, tough earlier this season in a 78-62 loss.
“The game was tied (50-50) after three quarters,” Milano said.
If Lower Lake comes away the upset victory in the first round, it could draw St. Patrick/St. Vincent in the quarterfinals on Saturday. St. Patrick/St. Vincent hosts Willits in a first-round game Wednesday.
The top four seeds in the Division IV field are Cardinal Newman, St. Joseph Notre Dame, No. 3 Arcata (20-5) and St. Patrick/St. Vincent.
Other first-round games in Division IV have Del Norte at Piedmont, Healdsburg at Arcata and Swett at Justin-Sinea. Cardinal Newman and St. Joseph Notre Dame have first-round byes.
All quarterfinal games are Saturday. Semifinals are March 1 and the championship game is March 4.
Division V
The eighth-seeded Clear Lake Cardinals draw a 20-win team in ninth-seeded Holy Names in opening round action and will be looking to earn a quarterfinal berth with a victory. The Clear Lake-Holy Names winner meets the Upper Lake-Convent of Sacred Heart winner in Saturday’s quarterfinal round at the site of the highest surviving seed.
Clear Lake and Holy Names had one common opponent during the season as both teams lost to Swett High School of Crockett in preseason action. Swett beat Holy Names 68-49 and Clear Lake 50-39. Swett is the No. 11 seed in Division IV playoffs.
Upper Lake and Convent of the Sacred Heart also had one common opponent, Rincon Valley Christian of Santa Rosa. Sacred Heart beat Rincon Valley 51-36 in its season opener while Upper Lake dropped 51-45 and 53-37 decisions to the Eagles during league play.
“Rincon Valley sent us some video,” Upper Lake coach Mike Smith said. “They’ve got a pretty good point guard. She can handle the ball and shoot from anywhere. That should be a good matchup with Natalie (Karlsson).”
Outside of the point guard, Smith said the other Sacred Heart starters are solid but not particularly tall.
“We have a size advantage, so it comes down to how well our posts play,” Smith said. “Can they help out Natalie with the scoring?”
Karlsson, who could be appearing in the final game of her illustrious four-year varsity career, will need to be at the top of her game as well, physically and mentally, according to Smith.
“She needs to have fun out there and balance that competitiveness without losing focus,” Smith said. “When she’s in control out there, the other girls respond.”
Karlsson enters play with 1,764 career points, second of the list of all-time Lake County scoring leaders. With a big effort against Sacred Heart, she could become only the second county player to score 1,800 points (Laura Wilder of Upper Lake is the all-time leader with 1,897).
“We’re certainly going to miss her ability on the court,” Smith said.
While taking on a No. 1 seed is a formidable task, Smith said the Cougars will go into the game with the proper mindset.
“We’re going in there loose, with nothing to lose and we just hope enough shots fall for us,” Smith said.
The top four seeds in the Division V field are Sacred Heart, No. 2 St. Bernard (16-8) of Eureka, No. 3 International (22-5) of San Francisco, and No. 4 Urban (10-16) of San Francisco.
Other first-round games Wednesday have Hoopa at Urban, Head-Royce at San Domenico, Fremont Christian at St. Bernard, Cloverdale at Marin Academy, Athenian at International, and Oakland Military Institute at Sonoma Academy.
All quarterfinal games are Saturday. Semifinals are March 1 and the Division V championship game is March 4.
