COLUSA ¯ Joy Ingalls scored a layup in the final seconds to snap a 29-all tie and lift the Clear Lake High School varsity girls basketball team to a season-opening 31-29 victory over Durham in the first round of the Colusa Tournament on Thursday afternoon.
Clear Lake meets either Lindhurst or Colusa in the winner’s semifinals on Friday night at 7:30 p.m.
The Cardinals, the defending tournament champions, led 14-6 after one quarter and held the lead until Durham (0-1) pulled even at 29-29 in the closing seconds. Ingalls was fouled on her layup but missed the free throw.
Both Clear Lake and Durham were hit hard by graduation after a 2017-18 season during which the Cardinals went 24-6 and Durham 27-6.
“He’s in the same boat as we are,” Clear Lake coach Kory Reynolds said of his Durham coaching counterpart. “We’ve both got a lot of new players.”
One of Clear Lake’s holdovers from last season, guard Kortnie Reynolds, powered Clear Lake’s offense with 18 points, 11 of those coming in the first quarter.
“They took her out of things after that,” Reynolds said of the Durham defense limiting his daughter to seven points the rest of the way.
Clear Lake’s defense held Durham’s top scorer, junior forward/center Allison Smith, to eight points, all of them in the first half.
“Deijanae Landers and Lilli Hill did a good job on her,” Reynolds said. “They shut her out in the second half.”
For a first game, Reynolds said the Cardinals did the best they could given the many new faces that fill the roster.
“We have a lot of girls who haven’t played together yet,” Reynolds said.
Still, the Cardinals are better off than the Trojans who only recently got back into their gym because of air quality issues caused by the nearby Camp Fire in Butte County. Durham is also located in Butte County and is only 14 miles away from Paradise, which was destroyed by the Camp Fire.
In other girls tournament action Thursday:
Willows 47, Kelseyville 33
At Gridley, Payton Conrad scored 15 points and Grace Davidson added another eight, but the young Kelseyville Knights didn’t get much scoring from the rest of the team and fell to Willows in the opening round of the Gridley Tournament.
The tournament continues through Saturday. Kelseyville (0-1) plays Woodland on Friday at 4 p.m. in the consolation semifinals.
“I thought our defense was playing pretty good,” Kelseyville head coach Jim Hale said. “Our inexperience kind of showed and our lack of conditioning really showed. We were fatigued in that second quarter, made some mental mistakes and that hurt us.”
Willows outscored Kelseyville 16-7 in the second quarter to open up a 24-10 halftime lead. The Knights matched the Honkers point for point in the second half but couldn’t get any closer.
Sophomore Ryann Taylor pulled down seven rebounds and scored four points in her varsity debut.
“We’re going to find scoring in other places,” Hale said. “I’m pleased with the effort for a first game.”
Counting Thursday’s contest, the Knights will play 10 games in the next 20 days, according to Hale. “So we won’t have much time to work on things in practice.”
McKinleyville 68, Lower Lake 36
At Arcata, the McKinleyville Panthers used a 2-2-1 press to great effect and beat the Lower Lake Trojans in the opening round of the Arcata Tournament.
Lower Lake (0-2) returns to the court Friday to play Mazama High School of Klamath Falls, Oregon, in the consolation semifinals at 4:30 p.m.
“They had good size, were tall and lanky,” Lower Lake coach Dave Milano said of the Panthers. “They had one post player who did a lot of good things. They have lots of returning players.”
Lower Lake lost its entire starting lineup to graduation after posting a 17-10 record last season.
“We played them a lot better in the second half than we did in the first half,” Milano said of his young club. “We made a lot of mistakes. The girls are kind of pressing right now and not playing relaxed. Once we relax and settle in we’ll do great.”
Samantha Hughes led the Trojans with eight points, including two 3-pointers. Marnae Johnson added seven points and Anahi Robles had six.
Upper Lake 30, Point Arena 18
At Upper Lake, Alana Sanchez led the way with 12 points as Upper Lake beat the Point Arena Pirates in the opening round of the Cougar Round Robin, the Cougars’ first win of the 2018-19 season.
Karlee Zimmerschied and Vanessa Loans Arrow each had eight points for Upper Lake (1-2).
“We came out with a good team win,” Upper Lake coach Nick Williamson said. “We’re still improving.”
Upper Lake set the tone for the game early, outscoring Point Arena 12-3 in the first quarter. The Cougars took a 22-9 lead into the final period.
Upper Lake plays Potter Valley on Friday night at 6:30 p.m. as the tournament continues.
