LAKEPORT >> The Clear Lake Cardinals are headed for a first-place showdown with the Cloverdale Eagles after routing the St. Helena Saints 58-17 on Tuesday night in Lakeport.
Clear Lake (5-0 league, 14-2 overall) hits the road Friday to play Cloverdale (5-0), the first of two critical league meetings between the two Division V teams this season.
St. Helena didn’t do much in the way of preparing Clear Lake for the Eagles.
“It was a hard game to play, but we got a lot of good playing time for some of our other players,” Clear Lake coach Kory Reynolds said of the Cardinal reserves.
Clear Lake outscored St. Helena 22-0 in the first quarter and led 30-4 at halftime.
Kortnie Reynolds led the Cardinals with 14 points, including three 3-pointers, while Corin Alakszay and Camille Donald each had nine points.
Clear Lake has won six straight and 10 of its last 11.
Looking ahead to the Cloverdale game, Reynolds said, “If we play like we can play we’re going to be fine. We match up well with them. I’m hoping to go down there and steal one from them.”
Clear Lake also won the junior varsity game 43-25.
In other girls action Friday:
Kelseyville 59, Fort Bragg 28
At Kelseyville, the Kelseyville Knights won their third straight in league play, beating the Fort Bragg Timberwolves as Payton Conrad led the way with 16 points and seven assists.
“It felt like a bit of a grind at times, especially in the first half,” Kelseyville coach Jim Hale said of the Knights’ 28-13 halftime advantage. “The game seemed a lot closer.”
However, Hale said it was one of Kelseyville’s better games of the season in terms of consistency on offense.
“The girls were looking to make the extra pass,” Hale said. “It was one of our better efforts on offense.”
Brisa Villa and Tymeka Green scored nine points apiece, Grace Davidson added eight more and Bib Hamner had six for the Knights. A Fort Bragg player received a technical foul late in the game for punching Villa but there was no other trouble, according to Hale.
The frustrated Timberwolves slipped to 1-4 in the league standings.
“They’re having some internal problems,” Hale said.
Kelseyville won the JV game 41-26 behind 12 points from Ryann Taylor and six from M.J. Boardman. The Knights, now 2-3 in league play, led 20-13 at halftime.
Lower Lake 53, Middletown 47
At Lower Lake, after back-to-back losses to Cloverdale and Clear Lake, the Lower Lake Trojans got back into the win column with a hard-fought victory over the Middletown Mustangs, who finally broke out of their offensive slump behind 14 points from Hanna Morris and 12 apiece from Kassi Agapoff and Ellie Bazzano.
Lower Lake (3-2, 12-4) took a 43-41 lead into the fourth quarter and it wasn’t until Aleia Milano hit a corner 3-pointer late in the game that the Trojans sealed the victory.
“We let her get away from us and she set up in the corner and made the shot,” Middletown coach Anthony Bazzano.
Middletown’s coach said the two biggest differences in the game were Lower Lake’s 14-for-20 free-throw shooting compared to the Mustangs’ 1-for-8 and the play of the Trojans’ Vanessa Hughes, who led all scorers with 25 points.
“She destroyed us on the glass on offense,” Bazzano said. “Outside of her and the free throws, I thought we outplayed them.”
Milano finished with 13 points.
“Hopefully it’s something we can build on,” Bazzano said of the solid play from his offense. “We went on the road against a good team and played a pretty good game.”
Lower Lake rallied from a double-digit deficit to win the JV game 44-42.
St. Vincent 65, Upper Lake 49
At Upper Lake, the Upper Lake Cougars dug a deep hole for themselves in the first half and couldn’t recover in NCL II action against the St. Vincent Mustangs.
Upper Lake (2-3, 8-7) went just 6-for-24 from the free-throw line in the first half while falling behind 24-12.
“We had a lot of shots and a lot of good looks and we played pretty good defense but we could not make our free throws,” Upper Lake co-coach Mike Smith said. “That was the difference.”
Upper Lake did make a run in the second half but never seriously threatened St. Vincent down the stretch.
“I’m proud of the girls for making a run but you can’t put yourself in a large hole like that, it’s just not good,” Smith said of the first half.
Brenna Sanchez led the Cougars with 19 points and 15 rebounds while Delaney Love and Katlyn Minnis each had eight points.
“She had one of her best games,” Smith said of Sanchez. “And I think that’s the best game I’ve seen Delaney play.”
St. Vincent won the JV game 40-27 despite a big night by Upper Lake’s Molly McCabe, who scored 17 points and pulled down 15 rebounds. The Cougars are 2-2 in the NCL II standings and 4-5 overall.
