LAKE COUNTY >> The North Central League I boys and girls basketball races are underway and last year’s major players remain this season’s teams to beat.
In the boys field, defending champion Kelseyville (1-0) and 2017 runner-up Cloverdale (1-0) squared off in an early season showdown on Friday night in Kelseyville (see www.record-bee.com for results) while Clear Lake (0-1) hit the road to play Fort Bragg (1-0), Lower Lake (1-0) hosted Willits (0-1), and Middletown (0-1) played at St. Helena (0-1).
Prior to Wednesday’s league openers, Kelseyville (10-3), Cloverdale (9-3), Clear Lake (6-7) and Middletown (7-5) were tabbed as the teams to beat in 2018 and as things worked out those four teams hooked up on the first night of the NCL I season. Kelseyville defeated Clear Lake 68-65 while Cloverdale turned back Middletown 45-37.
In the girls field, last year’s top four finishers in the NCL I standings — co-champions Lower Lake and Kelseyville, third-place finisher Clear Lake, and fourth-place Cloverdale — find themselves squarely in the title mix again this year. Cloverdale took apart Middletown 56-16 in league-opening action Wednedsay night while Clear Lake beat Kelseyville 43-41 in overtime, and Lower Lake routed St. Helena 81-24.
Clear Lake and Lower Lake are both 10-2 on the season while Kelseyville is 9-4 and Cloverdale 8-4. Along with Friday’s game between Kelseyville and Cloverdale at Cloverdale (see www.record-bee.com for results), another early season matchup with title implications takes place Tuesday night when Clear Lake visits Lower Lake.
Last year’s girls race was so close that the top three teams — co-champions Lower Lake and Kelseyville and third-place Clear Lake — finished within a game of each other, Lower Lake and Kelseyville at 12-2 and Clear Lake at 11-3. Cloverdale, which was in the thick of things most of the way, stumbled down the stretch and finished 8-6.
It’s interesting to note in the boys race that both Kelseyville and Cloverdale lost their top scorers from last season — Jayson McMillan for Cloverdale and Kyle Ellis for Kelseyville — but haven’t missed a beat so far in 2017-18. Clear Lake also lost two of its top players to graduation in Max De Leon and Ryan Damiata, but Tanner Hutton, who averaged a team-best 15.1 points a game last season, returns. Middletown was a non-factor in last season’s league race but has since received a big injection of talent from its junior varsity program, primarily in the form of brothers Andres and Sam Cervantes, who along with a veteran core of Thomas Cook, Luke Holt, Jeffrey Morris and Trey O’Neill give the Mustangs a legitimate chance to compete with the league’s big boys this season.
Among this year’s girls title contenders, Kelseyville was hardest hit by graduation while Lower Lake, Clear Lake and Cloverdale are nearly identical but also improved versions of their successful 2016-17 squads. There is certainly no shortage of offensive firepower among the top girls teams. Lower Lake’s Aleia Milano and Vanessa Hughes, Kelseyville’s Payton Conrad, Cloverdale’s Tehya Bird and Camryn Figueroa, and a rotation of Clear Lake starters depending on the day — Corin Alakszay, Camille Donald, Kiana Richardson and Kortnie Reynolds — are all capable scorers.
The league race is 14 games long and runs through Feb. 16. The North Coast Section playoffs follow and several Lake County teams will be moving on.
