LAKEPORT >> It was inevitable that the Clear Lake Cardinals and Cloverdale Eagles would meet again. The North Central League I co-champions both rolled to first-round victories on Wednesday night in the opening round of the North Coast Section Division V playoffs, setting up a quarterfinal-round showdown Saturday at 7 p.m. in Lakeport.
Clear Lake (22-4), the No. 4 seed, had little trouble putting away Redwood Christian, 62-32, during action in Lakeport. Likewise No. 5 Cloverdale (20-6) routed Athenian 58-21 at Cloverdale.
“They’re ready for Saturday. They were talking about it after the game,” Clear Lake coach Kory Reynolds said of his players. “We’ll prepare for them like we always do.”
Clear Lake and Cloverdale split their two league meetings, each winning on its own home floor, and Saturday’s victor will face either No. 1 Urban or No. 8 Bentley in the semifinals next Wednesday.
“It would be nice to get to that third game … and a fourth game would be a dream, but all season long we haven’t looked past the next team we’re playing and we’re not going to start now.”
Clear Lake hit the floor running against Redwood Christian and Reynolds said his team’s quick start was partially due to the Clear Lake-Bentley boys game that took place before the girls took the floor.
“I thought it was good for them,” he said. “They just didn’t walk into an empty gym. The fans were cheering and into the (boys) game and we were able to watch most of it. I thought it helped us get ready mentally.”
The Cardinals had a 17-9 lead after one quarter and increased their advantage to 38-18 by halftime.
“We weren’t nervous in the first quarter, just really excited and we came out really aggressive,” Reynolds said. “We were scoring from all over the place.”
Corin Alakszay (19 points) dominated Redwood Christian inside while Kortnie Reynolds (15 points) and Valerie Hutton (12 points) also scored in double digits.
“We had a height advantage against them, especially at Corin’s position,” Reynolds said. “Corin rolled real well and Camille (Donald) got her the ball.”
Donald, another of Clear Lake’s primary scoring threats during the season, finished with only two points but contributed on several other fronts, according to Reynolds.
“She did a great job on defense as always and distributed the ball well,” Reynolds said.
The Cardinals were able to empty their bench with a 53-25 lead going into the fourth quarter.
“I was able to get everyone in,” Reynolds said. “That’s always nice in a playoff game.”
