KELSEYVILLE >> KELSEYVILLE – The Kelseyville Knights were hoping to double down on their postseason pleasure Wednesday night in the opening round of the North Coast Section Division IV basketball playoffs at Kelseyville High School. They’ll have to settle for one out of two.
Kelseyville’s boys, the ninth seed in the 15-team field, proved no match for No. 8 Healdsburg 50-25, however, the No. 7 Kelseyville girls turned back No. 10 Fortuna 71-62 in Wednesday’s late game. The girls advance to the quarterfinals on Saturday against No. 2 seed St. Joseph Notre Dame of Alameda.
“Not just tall but strong and fast,” Kelseyville boys head coach Scott Conrad said in describing the Greyhounds, who blanked the Knights 16-0 in the first quarter and never looked back.
“A great win for us,” Kelseyville girls head coach Jim Hale said of the Knights’ victory over Fortuna, the second season in a row Kelseyville’s girls have made it out of the first round and into the quarterfinals.
Boys
Kelseyville accomplished its biggest goal of winning the North Central League I championship but back-to-back losses to end the season isn’t the way Conrad wanted to close out a 2016-17 campaign that was his most successful in 11 years as head coach.
“I’m proud of the way the kids fought back,” Conrad said. “We played them pretty even after the first quarter. It was just an unfortunate thing.”
The Greyhounds not only used their size to full advantage against Kelseyville but also pressured the Knights.
“They pressured us more than we were prepared for,” Conrad said. “Healdsburg is a very good team.”
Logan Barrick led the Knights (22-6) with eight points and Kyle Ellis and Randy Pfann each finished with five.
Ellis, Barrick and Ean Valenzuela, all seniors, will be impossible to replace next season, according to Conrad.
“I can’t remember coaching a game without him,” Conrad said of Ellis, a four-year varsity veteran who finishes his career with 1,498 points, fifth on the list of Lake County’s all-time scoring leaders. “He helped us turn this program around.”
Conrad said Barrick probably played the best game of his career against Healdsburg.
“Without him we don’t win the league title this season. He had an outstanding year,” Conrad said.
Valenzuela’s leadership was also instrumental in Kelseyville’s big season.
“His leadership for us all year was fantastic,” Conrad said.
Girls
Kelseyville seniors Alma Perez (29 points) and Haleigh Meyer (22 points) came up big as the Knights used a 22-9 third quarter to rally beat Fortuna.
The Knights (26-3) trailed 38-35 at halftime but took control of the game in the second half.
“Our pressure defense got to them in the third quarter,” Hale said.
Payton Conrad had 13 points and nine steals in the win. Perez had seven steals and Taylor Hale pulled down eight rebounds.
Meyer and Perez combined for 17 of Kelseyville’s 22 points in the third quarter.
“Our seniors led us but all of them played great,” Hale said.
Perez went 13-for-16 from the free-throw line.
