MIDDLETOWN — Tehya Bird and the Cloverdale Eagles tightened their grasp on the North Central League I lead Tuesday evening with a convincing 62-43 victory over the Middletown Mustangs in North Central League I varsity girls basketball action at Middletown.
The victory snapped Middletown’s seven-game winning streak and knocked the Mustangs (6-2 league, 12-8 overall) two games behind the Eagles (8-0) in the NCL I standings. Middletown was hoping to avenge a 55-35 loss at Cloverdale back on Jan. 2. A win would have moved the Mustangs into a tie for first, but now they’re tied with Kelseyville for second place.
“We’re all staring up at Cloverdale at this point,” Middletown head coach Anthony Bazzano said.
Fueled by Bird’s 25 points, the Eagles wasted no time taking control of the game.
“They came out ready to play and their physicality set the tone early in the first quarter and carried through the rest of the way,” Bazzano said.
The Eagles scored 17 points in each of the first two quarters to open up a commanding 34-17 halftime lead.
“We’re not the kind of team that can score 62,” Bazzano said. “We had a gameplan that didn’t come to life.”
The Mustangs played hard but didn’t have the firepower to stay with the Eagles, according to Bazzano.
Abbey Brown’s 14 points led Middletown, Hanna Morris added nine more and Emily Santiago had seven.
Middletown is home against St. Helena (0-8) on Friday.
In the junior varsity game, Middletown held Cloverdale’s top scorer, Summer Lands, to seven points while beating the Eagles 44-34. The Mustangs are now 8-0 in league play and 17-3 overall.
“That was one of our better defensive efforts,” Middletown coach Andy Brown said. “They (Eagles) can score points and holding them to 34 is actually pretty good.”
Middletown held a 22-10 halftime lead.
Brie Alves led the Mustangs with 13 points, Jessica Pollack added 10 points and Brooklyn Huffman had nine.
In other girls basketball action Tuesday:
Kelseyville 51, Clear Lake 46
At Kelseyville, center Grace Davidson scored 24 points, including the first 3-pointer of her varsity career, but it was a corner 3-pointer by sophomore teammate M.J. Boardman late in the fourth quarter than snapped a 43-all tie and lifted the Kelseyville Knights to a hard-fought league win over archrival Clear Lake.
“That’s like the third time this year we’ve battled back to tie a game only to lose the lead on a wide open 3-pointer,” Clear Lake head coach Kory Reynolds said. “We just don’t have that experience for late-game situations.”
Boardman scored all eight of her points in the fourth quarter for Kelsevyille (6-2, 13-6).
“It was a great battle,” Kelseyville head coach Jim Hale said. “The whole team played really well. It’s good to be battled-tested down the stretch.”
Clear Lake (3-5, 6-13) led 11-7 after one quarter. Kelseyville fought back to take a 25-24 lead and pushed its advantage to 38-31 through three quarters.
Kortnie Reynolds’ 24 points, 12 of them in the fourth quarter, rallied the Cardinals down the stretch. The senior and three-year varsity veteran sank five 3-pointers while also scoring her 900th career point.
Davidson had a double-double for the Knights as she pulled down 10 rebounds. Kaleigh Davis had five assists and Maddy Barker added seven points.
For Clear Lake, Joy Ingalls finished with nine points and Daijanae Landers had eight.
In the JV game, Clear Lake improved to 7-1 in the league standings with a 43-34 victory over the Kelseyville Knights.
Guards Riley Mix and Sydney Howe led Clear Lake, now 17-3 overall, with 19 and 13 points, respectively. Each player had a 3-pointer.
Larue Furlani’s 11 points led the Knights while Megan Holland and Skye Mateer each had eight.
Kelseyville’s teams are on the road Friday in Cloverdale while Clear Lake hosts Fort Bragg.
Lower Lake 51, St. Helena 27
At Lower Lake, the Lower Lake Trojans moved to .500 in league play by routing the St. Helena Saints.
Lower Lake (4-4, 6-14) led 22-12 at halftime and continued to build its lead from there.
“They played hard, they really played good,” Lower Lake head coach Dave Milano said of the Trojans, who benefited from crisp ball movement in the second half.
Lynzi Milano converted a rare four-point play in the third quarter, hitting a 3-pointer, drawing the foul and making the free throw. Her 12 points paced the team, including three 3-pointers.
Balanced scoring also helped. Besides Milano, Marnae Johnson and Alisha Jones contributed eight points apiece, Anahi Robles had six and Heather Felder and Jackie Cooper five each.
The Trojans also knocked down eight 3-pointers, including two each from Johnson and Robles.
St. Helena fell to 0-8 in the league standings, but Milano said the Saints’ rebuilding program is headed in the right direction.
“They’re much better than last year and the year before,” he said.
In the JV game, freshman guard Kyra Womack scored a season-high 20 points, including four 3-pointers, as Lower Lake beat St. Helena 56-21. Kyleigh Mock added 13 points with two 3-pointers and Kayla Doud had 10 points.
Lower Lake improved to 4-4 in league play and 9-6 overall.
Lower Lake’s teams are home Friday against Willits.
Credo 51, Upper Lake 38
At Rohnert Park, after a 10-10 first quarter, Credo outscored Upper Lake 24-6 in the second quarter and went on to beat the visiting Cougars in NCL II action.
“We played their game and they took advantage of it,” Upper Lake head coach Nick Williamson said.
Alana Sanchez led Upper Lake (1-4, 7-12) with 10 points and Molly McCabe added eight, including two 3-pointers.
The Cougars are off until Saturday when they host Mendocino in a non-league game.
