WILLITS — The Upper Lake Cougars beat the Willits Wolverines at their own game before beating them on their homecourt, 36-21, in non-league varsity girls basketball action Friday night in Willits.
Freshman Heaven’Lee Loans Arrow led the way with 15 points and 15 rebounds as the Cougars improved to 2-0 on the season.
“It was a physical and intense first quarter,” Upper Lake head coach Mike Smith said. “They (officials) let us play.”
The Wolverines (0-2) tried to disrupt the flow of the Upper Lake offense with their pressure defense, but the Cougars weren’t having it.
“They put some pressure on us in the first half, but we did not succumb to the press,” Smith said.
Instead, it was the Cougars who tightened the defensive screws on the Wolverines led by a team-high 10 steals from freshman Maddy Young, who came up with the play of the game in the third quarter.
“It was the turning point,” Smith said. “She took a charge on a fastbreak layup. She took it head-on. That was the moment we knew we were going to win that game.”
Karlee Zimmerschied added five steals and solid defense from Molly McCabe in the second quarter helped Upper Lake go into halftime with a 18-9 lead. The Cougars outscored the Wolverines 9-2 in the third quarter to go up 27-11.
Loans Arrow, who has 42 points and 27 rebounds in the first two games of her varsity career, helped Upper Lake limit Willits to one shot most trips down the floor.
“She really battled on the boards and did a lot of good things,” Smith said.
Upper Lake’s press and half-court trap held Willits’ offense in check most of the night.
The Cougars suited up seven players on Friday, one more than they did in a season-opening win over Anderson Valley on Thursday night in Boonville. More help is on the way as Smith said he hopes to field a roster of at least nine and possibly 10 before the Cougars open their league schedule early next year.
Zimmerschied and Alana Sanchez each finished with six points in the win. Young’s three points were the first of her varsity career.
“I’m very happy with our (2-0) start,” Smith said of the Cougars. “It’s always a tough environment in Willits.”
Upper Lake is off until Dec. 3 when it hosts Laytonville in a four-game set.
“Laytonville is a playoff-caliber team so that will be a good test for us,” Smith said.
Junior varsity
Although they battled back to make a game of it, the Upper Lake junior varsity girls couldn’t dig themselves out of an early 18-3 hole and fell 44-36 to the Willits Wolverines in non-league action, their first loss of the 2019-20 season.
“Willits was pressing out of the gate and our girls panicked,” Upper Lake head coach Angelina Arroyo said.
Ahead 13-3 after one quarter, the Wolverines pushed their advantage to 18-3 before Upper Lake (2-1) began to settle down and play its game, which involved a lot of pounding the ball down low to Taylar Minnis, who led the Cougars with 20 points.
“Taylar found her groove,” Arroyo said. “As long as we could get it inside to Taylar, we were hanging right in there, but then they double-teamed her.”
Upper Lake got as close as three points but could never overtake Willits down the stretch.
“We made a lot of bad passes. We probably had more turnovers than rebounds,” Arroyo said. “But it was a good experience for the girls. They worked hard, reached down deep to make a game of it. I was proud of them for that.”
Minus one starter entering play, the Cougars had a thinner bench than normal and had to go to it often because the amount of energy expended by the starters trying to defeat Willits’ pressure defense.
“I tried to use my subs as best I could,” Arroyo said. “My starters were tired.”
Tristin Rhodes scored 10 points for the Cougars, who are off until Dec. 3 when they make their home debut against Laytonville. Tip-off is 3:30 p.m.
