LAKE COUNTY >> During a season when Lake County teams dominated the North Central League I girls basketball ranks, it’s no surprise that 12 county players found their way onto the 2017 All-League squad as recently selected by the league’s coaches.
To put that into greater perspective, that’s 12 out of 19 spots featuring members of either the Kelseyville, Lower Lake, Clear Lake or Middletown teams.
Kelseyville and Lower Lake shared the league championship with 12-2 records, one game ahead of the third-place Clear Lake Cardinals at 11-3. The co-championship also led to co-MVPs as Kelseyville senior Alma Perez and Lower Lake junior Aleia Milano were honored as the league’s top players. Both scored their 1,000th career point during the 2016-17 campaign and Milano has an entire full season remaining to add to her total.
Perez, who averaged nearly 18 points a game, and Milano, who averaged 20.1, definitely took a step up this season after landing on the All-League second team just a year ago.
“Being a second-team player motivated her to be better,” Kelseyville coach Jim Hale said. “She took a great step up and I think a lot of that is moving up from being a junior to a senior. And it wasn’t just her scoring, but her play on defense, her rebounding. She’s a great player and a great teammate.”
Milano’s improvement from sophomore to junior seasons also was evident, according to her dad and Lower Lake’s head coach, Dave Milano.
“She’s such a hard worker and one of the things she wanted to improve on was her shooting,” Milano said.
Aleia did just that, averaging nearly 45 percent from the field on 2-pointers and 75 percent from the free-throw line.
Milano also stepped up as a team leader along with junior guard Vanessa Hughes when a key member of the squad was dismissed early in the season, changing the composition of the starting lineup and bench rotation.
“Her and Vanessa were real verbal about that and making sure nobody quit, nobody got down,” Milano said.
Joining co-MVPs Perez and Milano on the All-League first team are Clear Lake rebounding machine Kiana Richardson, a junior; Lower Lake’s Hughes, who averaged 11 points a game in her first varsity season; Kelseyville sophomore guard Payton Conrad, who is appearing on the All-League first team for the second year in a row; and Cloverdale junior guard Camryn Figueroa, the Eagles’ top scorer this season.
The All-League second team featured Lake County players Haleigh Meyer, a Kelseyville senior; Camille Donald, a Clear Lake junior; and Makenzi Smith, a Middletown senior. Also selected were Cloverdale’s Teyha Bird, the only freshman on this year’s All-League team, and Fort Bragg junior Skyler Saunders.
Each team received one honorable mention. Honored were Kelseyville senior Carli Mendonca, Lower Lake senior Claire Alderson, Middletown senior Abby Aden, Clear Lake sophomore Kortnie Reynolds, Fort Bragg junior Lili Guzman, Cloverdale junior Jaedyn Jenkins, St. Helena senior Adriana Gomes, and Willits senior Chanel Alexander.
