CLOVERDALE — Clear Lake’s chance to propel itself back into the thick of the North Central League I varsity girls basketball race ended with a 55-46 loss to the undefeated Cloverdale Eagles on Friday night in Cloverdale.
Four-year Cloverdale varsity veteran Tehya Bird, the target of a box-and-one Clear Lake defense, finished with 14 points while moving closer to the 2,000 mark for her career. Catherine Driver led the Eagles with 18 points, all on 3-pointers.
“And a couple of those were from 6 feet behind the (3-point) line,” Clear Lake head coach Phil Psalmonds said of Driver. “She really impressed me.”
Clear Lake (4-3 league, 9-7 overall) trailed by only six points entering the fourth quarter.
“That’s what we came down here to do, play hard and compete,” Psalmonds said. “We battled hard. I thought the kids played great.”
Rylee Mix’s 14 points paced the Cardinals, Hailee Bussard added 11 and Sierra Bruch had nine.
Sydney Howe, the focal point of Clear Lake’s box-and-one on Bird, helped slowed down the Eagles’ top player.
“Howe did another awesome job,” Psalmonds said.
Howe also scored seven points.
Clear Lake opens the second half of its league schedule at home Monday against St. Helena.
In the junior varsity game, Clear Lake closed out the first half of league play at 7-0 by beating the Cloverdale Eagles 35-30. It wasn’t the Cardinals’ best effort of the season, according to assistant coach Jeff Mertle, but it was good enough.
“We won, we’re 7-0 and we’re still undefeated,” he said.
Montana Wells led the Cardinals with 12 points, Abby Mertle finished with eight and Rubi Ford had seven.
In other girls action Friday:
At Lower Lake, in a tightly officiated game that produced 59 free throw attempts, the Middletown Mustangs beat the Lower Lake Trojans to remain a game behind Cloverdale in the NCL I standings at the midway point of the season.
Middletown (6-1, 11-7) took a 51-32 lead into the fourth quarter by which time three of Lower Lake’s top players — Alisha Jones (13 points), Shelby Sapeta (eight points) and Kayla Doud — had already fouled out of the game.
“We did a good job cutting their lead to 10 points,” Lower Lake head coach Shannon Tubbs said, “but we were running out of players.”
Middletown head coach Andy Brown said the Mustangs had to back off on defense to prevent getting into deeper foul trouble than they were.
“We had to be a little more passive,” he said.
The Mustangs had one of their better nights on offense as they scored 51 points in the first three quarters, including seven 3-pointers. Paige Astley led the way with 19 points and 12 rebounds, Abbey Brown added 17 points, and Sophie Kucer and Bri Alves each had seven. Olivia Kucer added five points and 11 rebounds.
Lower Lake (3-4, 7-12) trailed 51-32 after three quarters. Sam Hughes scored eight points for the Trojans and Kimberly Bautista had six.
Both teams open the second half of their league schedules on Monday. Middletown hosts Kelseyville while Lower Lake travels to Fort Bragg.
In the JV game, Lower Lake edged Middletown 47-46 on Kyleigh Mock’s buzzer-beating shot from half court. Mock finished with 14 points. Terilyn Jo Jermany led the Trojans with 22 points.
Kelseyville 50, St. Helena 11
At Kelseyville, the Kelseyville Knights (4-3, 7-11) won their fourth consecutive league game to move into a tie with Clear Lake for third-place in the NCL I standings.
“I’m very happy with the way we’re moving forward and getting better every game,” Kelseyville head coach Skyler Olsen said of the red-hot Knights’ recent run.
Against the winless Saints (0-7), the Knights unleashed a pressure defense and 3-point barrage in the first quarter to open up a 21-2 lead. Allison Bryant (15 points) sank four 3-pointers in the opening period while teammate Maddy Barker (11 points) hit two more.
“We took the press off after the first quarter,” Olsen said.
Ahead 37-4 by halftime, the Knights emptied the bench in the second half, which took place under a running clock.
Ryann Taylor had four points, nine rebounds and three steals for the Knights. Sarah Parlee added six points and Sam Carter pulled down eight rebounds to go along with two points. Bryant also had three steals and three blocks.
The Knights host the Middletown Mustangs (6-1) on Monday to open the second half of their league schedule.
In the JV game, Kelseyville closed out the first half with a 47-16 victory over St. Helena as Larue Furlani led the way with 14 points. Kaylei Davis added seven points and seven rebounds.
Kelseyville is 5-2 in league and 10-2 overall.
