JACKSON >> The Upper Lake Cougars did everything they could to stay close for a half before Argonaut took control in the third quarter and rolled to a 74-44 victory in the opening round of the NorCal Division V girls basketball playoffs at Argonaut High School in Jackson.
Upper Lake (16-13) trailed just 12-6 after one quarter and 34-23 at halftime before the Mustangs pulled away with a 23-11 third quarter.
“Boy, that was tough,” Upper Lake coach Mike Smith said of the tight man-to-man defense played by the Sac-Joaquin Section champions.
Natalie Karlsson closed out a stellar high school career with 26 points, 14 of them coming in the second quarter.
“She kept us in it,” Smith said of Karlsson, who finishes with 1,846 points, second on the all-time list of Lake County scoring leaders. “Those points Nat got were the toughest of her career,” Smith said. “I’ve never seen her take that kind of defense. They were inside her shorts wherever she went on the floor. They wore her down.”
Early foul trouble also plagued the Cougars, who had four players with four fouls by game’s end.
“That didn’t help,” Smith said.
Upper Lake’s coach said the Cougars never lost their poise despite the immense pressure applied by the Mustangs.
“Our attitude was good, we played hard the whole way,” Smith said.
Upper Lake received a last-second invite into the Division V field and hadn’t practiced in more than a week, but hastily prepared for Wednesday’s game with tune-up practices on Monday and Tuesday.
“We were playing with house money,” Smith said.
Kejhana Taylor, also playing in her final high school game, added five points while junior Brenna Sanchez had four. Karlsson had three of the Cougars’ four 3-pointers.
