KELSEYVILLE >> With a combined 18 non-league wins between them entering play Wednesday night, the Clear Lake Cardinals and Kelseyville Knights faced off in the North Central League I opener for both teams at Kelseyville High School.
By the time the two archrivals were done battling it out on the hardwood, Clear Lake had drawn first blood in the 2018 league race with a 43-41 overtime victory.
Kelseyville (0-1, 9-4) rallied from a 24-17 halftime deficit to force overtime, but Clear Lake (1-0, 10-2) outscored the Knights 7-5 in the overtime period to pull out the victory and spoil the league debut of last year’s NCL I co-champions (Kelseyville tied Lower Lake for first place).
Camille Donald’s 3-pointer late in the overtime gave Clear Lake a four-point lead.
“Donald hit a big three and that was a back-breaker,” Kelseyville coach Jim Hale said.
Donald finished a team-leading 15 points while Corin Alakszay continued her strong play for the Cardinals with 11 points and eight rebounds. Kiana Richardson ran into early foul trouble but still managed to pull down 18 rebounds and score six points. “And she played only half a game,” Clear Lake coach Kory Reynolds said. “When Kiana went out Corin was able to pick up a lot of that slack.”
“Clear Lake is a rebounding machine right now,” Hale said.
While Richardson picked up her third foul early in the game and had to sit out much of the second quarter, Kelseyville post players Bib Hamner and Grace Davidson also were in foul trouble and both ended up fouling out in the fourth quarter.
“We suit up only eight players, so losing those two really hurt,” Hale said.
Payton Conrad’s 22 points powered the Knights, who outscored the Cardinals 19-12 in the second half to pull even at 36-all by the end of regulation.
“For us to come back and play with them like that, against a team that starts four seniors and has a seasoned junior at point guard, I’m pretty pleased,” Hale said.
“It wasn’t our prettiest game,” Reynolds said. “We didn’t play our best game but we were still able to squeak it out and get the win. We got the job done and I’m really proud of them.”
Donald and Kortnie Reynolds each hit two 3-pointers for the Cardinals while Conrad sank five treys for the Knights.
“Camille had a really great game,” Reynolds said.
Clear Lake dominated the junior varsity contest 44-26.
In other girls basketball action Wednesday:
Cloverdale 56, Middletown 16
At Middletown, it was a long night for the host Middletown Mustangs as the Cloverdale Eagles rolled to an easy victory in the NCL I opener for both teams.
Middletown (0-1, 7-5) didn’t reach double figures on the scoreboard until the third quarter, and just barely as Cloverdale built a 56-11 lead.
“I can’t take anything away from them, they played an excellent game tonight,” Middletown coach Anthony Bazzano said of the Eagles. “They pushed us around early and we didn’t respond well. That’s the way it was the whole game.”
Kassi Agapoff’s nine points led the Mustangs, who will try and forget this game just as soon as possible, according to Bazzano.
“We’ve got only one day to get ready for St. Helena (on Friday in St. Helena),” Bazzano said. “We’ll try to get ourselves ready, but frankly if we play like we did tonight it won’t matter. Tonight was not a good game for us.”
Middletown’s JV girls fared much better as they beat Cloverdale 49-31 behind 18 points from Sophie Kucer, 12 from Annabel Pyzer and nine from Brianna Alves.
The Mustangs are now 1-0 in league and 9-4 overall.
Upper Lake 44, RCP 22
At Santa Rosa, senior center Brenna Sanchez was ready to go in Upper Lake’s NCL II opener as her 19 points and 15 rebounds carried the Cougars (1-0, 7-4) to a victory over Roseland Collegiate Prep.
Upper Lake went 18 days between games because of the winter break and started slowly against RCP, according to head coach Mike Smith.
“It seemed like it was 4-3 forever in the first quarter,” Smith said. “We went to a half-court trap and got like four layups in a row.”
Upper Lake scored the final nine points of the quarter to take a 13-3 lead and never looked back. The middle quarters were dominated by Sanchez, who scored seven points in the second period and nine more in the third.
“She really kind of found her flow in the second quarter,” Smith said. “She relaxed and got going. It was good to see.”
Upper Lake led 39-15 heading into the fourth quarter.
Cheyanne Obedoza had eight points for the Cougars and Julia Mooney finished with six.
The Cougars have a bye on Friday but play three games next week. They’re on the road Tuesday to take on Credo, return home Jan. 11 to play Rincon Valley Christian, and hit the road again Jan. 13 against Roseland University Prep.
