KENTFIELD >> Aleia Milano’s last act as a high school basketball player was making sure younger sister Lynzi got off to a good start at the varsity level. Older sister’s assist set up younger sister’s 3-pointer as the final seconds ticked off the clock in Lower Lake’s 65-55 loss to Marin Catholic in the opening round of the North Coast Section Division IV girls playoffs at Kentfield.
Milano — as in Aleia — played the final game in her four-year varsity career, scoring 21 points that bring her career total to 1,761, a Lower Lake record and good for third place on Lake County’s all-time scoring list. In fact, Milano is likely to be playing basketball this time next season as a teammate of the player who is Lake County’s No. 2 career scoring leader, former Upper Lake star Natalie Karlsson (1,846), at the College of the Siskiyous.
Lower Lake, the No. 11 seed in Division IV, closes out its season at 17-10. Marin Catholic (23-6), the No. 4 seed, advances to the quarterfinals Saturday against Del Norte.
“For me the difference in the game was they (Wildcats) were just a little bit better on defense, especially in the first half,” Lower Lake coach Dave Milano said. “They just forced us into some tough shots.”
After a competitive 20-18 first quarter in Marin Catholic’s favor, the Wildcats took control of the game with a 22-8 second period.
Lower Lake cut it to 54-41 after three quarters and continued to press Marin Catholic throughout the fourth quarter.
“They didn’t take their starters out until the final six seconds,” Milano said. “We were right within striking distance.”
A senior-dominated team, the Trojans will lose all five of their starters and seven players overall to graduation.
“We’ll start piecing together a new team here pretty soon,” Milano said.
Some of the building blocks are already in place, including Lynzi Milano, Samantha Hughes, the younger sister of Vanessa Hughes, and Heather Felder, who was recently promoted from the junior varsity squad.
Along with Aleia Milano’s 21 points, the Trojans’ received double-digit scoring from Samantha Caires (12 points) and Vanessa Hughes (11 points). Another of their senior stalwarts, Elizabeth Ingalls, added seven points.
Marin Catholic also ended Lower Lake’s season a year ago with a 76-65 first-round win at Kentfield.
“We played well,” Milano said of Lower Lake’s final game of 2017-18. “I was happy with how we played, especially our seniors.”
In another girls playoff game Wednesday:
Swett 75, Kelseyville 45
At Crockett, the Kelseyville Knights had a hard time sticking to their gameplan and lost to the Swett Warriors in a Division IV first-round game.
“We had them scouted, we knew who their players and shooters were,” Kelseyville coach Jim Hale said.
One of them was sophomore guard Veronica McGee, who went off on the Knights for 18 points — in the third quarter alone.
“She’s their best player and we kept letting her go,” Hale said. “It was frustrating.”
Kelseyville trailed 27-15 going to the second half when McGee and her teammates exploded for 33 points in the third quarter to put the game away.
“Our minds weren’t there,” Hale said. “We weren’t very good focus-wise.”
Bib Hamner’s 13 points led the Knights, who close out the season at 20-7. Swett (23-6), the No. 6 seed, advances to Saturday’s quarterfinals against Piedmont. Grace Davidson added 10 points in the loss and Payton Conrad had nine, including two 3-pointers.
While Hale wasn’t happy with his team’s final effort of the season, he said the overall product was a huge success.
“At the beginning of the season I never would have expected this (20 wins) from them,” Hale said. “We grew as a team every week.”
The individual growth of several players, including Hamner, was off the chart, according to Hale, who said he’s going to miss his four seniors – Hamner, Tymeka Green, Linda Baqleh and Brisa Villa – on next season’s club.
“It’s hard for the seniors to go out like this,” Hale said. “But this is how our seasons are going to end no matter what. We’re a small-school Division IV team playing in the toughest division in the section. You’re not going to make it through the section without a loss.”
