CLOVERDALE >> Sole possession of first place in the North Central League I varsity girls basketball standings was the prize up for grabs Friday night and the Cloverdale Eagles claimed it with a 49-45 victory over the Clear Lake Cardinals in Cloverdale.
Clear Lake (5-1, 14-3) trailed 17-2 in the first quarter but pushed in front by as many as four points midway through the final period before Cloverdale (6-0, 13-4) rallied to win it. Even then the Cardinals had a chance to tie the game trailing 47-45 with five seconds remaining, but they missed a wide-open layup. The Eagles grabbed the rebound and threw a full-court pass to set up an easy layup as time expired.
“They’re a good team, but not as good as our team,” Clear Lake coach Kory Reynolds said. “We’ll get them when they come up here (to Lakeport on Feb. 13).”
Cloverdale scored the game’s first seven points before Kylie Udy, who finished with 10 points, got Clear Lake on the scoreboard with a driving layup. The Eagles then went on another run and were leading 17-2 when Reynolds called a timeout. Clear Lake began to battle back after that. Down 18-5 at quarter’s end, the Cardinals closed to 21-14 by halftime and to 36-30 through three quarters.
“It took us a quarter to figure it out, we kind of got caught up in Cloverdale’s game a little bit, but then we started to slow it down,” Reynolds said.
Tehya Bird and Camryn Figueroa scored 19 points apiece and combined for 24 rebounds for Cloverdale. Camille Donald (13 points) and Corin Alakszay (12 points) joined Udy in double digits for Clear Lake.
“She played really well,” Reynolds said of the junior Udy. “So did Valerie (Hutton). She’s not scoring the way she can but she draws the other team’s best player every game and does a great job. She’s so tough on defense.”
Both teams close out the first half of league play on Tuesday. Cloverdale draws winless St. Helena while Clear Lake plays Middletown (2-4).
Clear Lake won the junior varsity game 37-35.
