UPPER LAKE — Behind a season-best 22 points from Karlee Zimmerschied, the Upper Lake Cougars reeled off their fifth straight win to open the season, defeating the Potter Valley Bearcats 67-23 to capture the girls championship game in the Cougar Classic Basketball Tournament on Saturday in Upper Lake.
The Cougars (5-0) tuned up for a big non-league showdown Tuesday at Healdsburg (9-0) with an easy win over the outmatched Bearcats, who trailed 24-2 after the opening quarter.
Tournament most valuable player Heaven’Lee Loans Arrow added 12 points and eight rebounds while Alana Sanchez had nine points and six rebounds.
“We played great defense and got a lot of breakaway points,” Upper Lake head coach Mike Smith said. “Karlee had a field day.”
All-Tournament selection Maddy Young added seven points and seven steals while Madi Noble had seven points and five assists. Both are freshmen as is Loans Arrow.
Varsity boys
While Upper Lake’s girls were taking care of business, so were Upper Lake’s boys with a 72-29 win over Potter Valley to wrap up the Cougar Classic boys championship.
Hank Nevarez led the Cougars (4-1) with 16 points, Louis Avalos and Dalton Slater added 12 points apiece and Diego Velasco had 10 in the lopsided victory. Benat Love finished with eight.
“We were just quicker and our man-to-man defense really gave them problems,” Upper Lake coach Tony Arroyo said.
Nevarez was a particular problem for the Potter Valley club. The senior not only led the team in scoring, but he also had 10 rebounds and 11 steals for a rare triple-double. Not surprisingly, he was named to the All-Tournament team, joining most valuable player Avalos.
The Cougars dominated the Bearcats on the boards and that allowed Upper Lake’s fastbreak game to shift into high gear.
“When we can control the boards we can get out and run,” Arroyo said.
Upper Lake beat Willits 63-62 in overtime in its other tournament game on Friday.
“Senior leadership really brought us through,” Arroyo said.
