COLUSA — The Clear Lake Cardinals shredded Colusa’s man-to-man defense in the second half and beat the RedHaks 44-34 in the winner’s semifinal round of the Colusa Tournament on Friday night in Colusa.
The victory puts Clear Lake, the defending tournament champion, into Saturday’s finals against Wheatland at 7:30 p.m. The same two teams met in last year’s championship game with Clear Lake prevailing 48-39.
“They’re pretty good and have a lot of players back,” Clear Lake coach Kory Reynolds said of the Wheatland squad.
Colusa played a box-and-one defense against Clear Lake’s top player, senior guard Kortnie Reynolds, in the first half and limited her to a single 3-pointer. The Cardinals were still able to take a 23-21 halftime lead thanks to the outside shooting of Shaelyn McIntire (10 points) and Skye Bruch (eight points), each of whom hit two 3-pointers.
The RedHawks switched to a man-to-man in the second half in an attempt to slow down Clear Lake’s other players, but the strategy backfired.
“We picked them apart,” Reynolds said.
Kortnie Reynolds (15 points) hit another 3-pointer in the third quarter and three more in the fourth quarter as the Cardinals took control of the game.
“They couldn’t keep up with us,” Reynolds said.
Clear Lake post players Lilli Hill and Daijanae Landers helped shut down Colusa’s top two scorers.
“Hill did an excellent job on their top player,” Reynolds said.
In other girls tournament action Friday:
Kelseyville 70, Woodland 18
At Gridley, seniors Payton Conrad and Grace Davidson combined for 21 of Kelseyville’s 33 third-quarter points as the Kelseyville Knights picked up their first win of the season with a rout of Woodland in the consolation semifinals at the Gridley Tournament.
Kelseyville (1-1) will face either River City or Vallejo in the consolation championship game on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
“My seniors came out after halftime and took control of the game,” Kelseyville coach Jim Hale said of Conrad, who led the Knights with 20 points, and Davidson, who finished with 18.
Conrad, a fourth-year varsity player, also led the Knights with eight steals and seven assists.
“I thought she had a good night,” Hale said.
After struggling on offense in a 47-33 first-round loss to Willows on Thursday, the Knights had no problem finding the basket less than 24 hours later, and not just Conrad and Davidson. Freshman post Kaylei Davis finished with 10 points.
“She played well. Getting 10 from a freshman is a big deal,” Hale said. “We had pretty balanced scoring from all of our younger players.”
Ryann Taylor, a sophomore, pulled down a team-best eight rebounds to go along with six points.
Kelseyville led 29-13 at halftime before putting the game away with a 33-5 third quarter. The Knights shut out Woodland in the final period.
Upper Lake 32, Potter Valley 23
At Potter Valley, Vanessa Loans Arrow banged in three 3-pointers and finished with a team-leading 11 points overall as the Upper Lake Cougars (2-2) defeated the Potter Valley Bearcats in the second round of the Cougar Round Robin.
Upper Lake can win the tournament title by beating Ferndale on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. as the tournament wraps up.
Loans Arrow not only led the Cougars in the scoring column, but she had four steals and three assists. Alana Sanchez added nine points and a team-best 10 rebounds and Karlee Zimmerschied had six points.
“They played a good game,” Upper Lake coach Nick Williamson said. “It was a hard-fought game. They’re playing well together, playing as a team.”
Mazama 63, Lower Lake 39
At Arcata, Mazama of Klamath Falls, Oregon, beat Lower Lake in the consolation semifinals of the Arcata Tournament, dropping the Trojans into Saturday’s seventh-place game against Hoopa at 10:30 a.m.
Lower Lake is now 0-3 on the season.
Game statistics were not available.
