UPPER LAKE — When it comes to the playoffs, the only thing that matters is making it to the next round and the Upper Lake Cougars are advancing to the North Coast Section Division 5 semifinals after taking down San Domenico of San Anselmo 42-29 on Saturday night in girls basketball action at Upper Lake.
After going 26 years without a home playoff victory, a streak that ended Wednesday when the Cougars beat International of San Francisco 53-48 in a first-round game, the Cougars (22-4) and head coach Mike Smith now have a two-game home playoff winning streak as they hit the road to play No. 1 seed Cloverdale (22-3) next Wednesday in Cloverdale.
“That’s going to be tough playing them down there,” Smith said of a matchup between the NCL I-champion Eagles and his NCL II-champion Cougars. “What a great, great experience for our young team to go up against the No. 1 seed.”
Upper Lake’s quarterfinal-round win over San Domenico wasn’t its best game of the season by a long shot, but the sloppiness the Cougars experienced in the first half, and especially in the second quarter with their erratic ballhandling and passing, didn’t cost them on this night largely because their quick-handed defense caused the Panthers all kinds of problems.
“We were so out of sync with our offense in that first half,” Smith said. “We weren’t trusting each other, we weren’t cutting to the ball, we were standing still.”
Smith’s halftime speech centered on just that.
“We needed more movement, we had to be more fluid,” Smith said. “We started moving the ball much better and it creates confidence.”
Upper Lake scored the game’s first 11 points although both teams were struggling mightily with their shooting in the first quarter. The Cougars were on the verge of shutting out the Panthers but Alexa Dal Porto scored in the final seconds of the period to make it 11-2.
During a second quarter when the Cougars would only attempt five shots from the field because of multiple turnovers, San Domenico closed to 13-12 with 3:12 left in the half. The Panthers would never tie or go ahead of the Cougars, but the two teams were never separated by much — two to five points until Upper Lake’s 10-0 run midway through the fourth quarter.
No one player stood out for the Cougars, rather several players stepped up at different points of the game — starter and reserve alike — to make a key contribution. That list included reserve Molly McCabe, who scored back-to-back baskets in the first quarter, the latter a 3-pointer; starter Madison Noble with five points in the third quarter; starter Alana Sanchez, Upper Lake’s lone senior, who scored her only four points of the game in the third quarter; and starter Heaven’Lee Loans Arrow, whose free throw with 3:58 left in the game and basket moments later gave the Cougars a 36-27 lead that eventually grew to 40-27 on free throws by Zoey Petrie and Karlee Zimmerscheid and a McCabe basket with 3:00 remaining.
“That second half, everyone I put in had their moment to shine and that was huge,” Smith said.
Upper Lake had to play the final 5:05 without starting point guard Maddy Young, who fouled out while trying to get a charge call but was instead called for a block. She was replaced off the bench by yet another freshman, Lupy Monlo-Duncan, who sank two free throws for the final two points of the game.
Noble ended up leading the Cougars with nine points while both McCabe and Loans Arrow finished with seven. Petrie added six more.
Noku Mukukula’s eight points paced the Panthers, Dal Porto had seven and Cate Olrich six.
Win or lose against Cloverdale in the semifinals on Wednesday, Upper Lake’s victory Saturday means that the team will extend its season into the NorCal state playoffs that get underway the first week of March.
“This group just doesn’t want to lose and they’re not afraid,” Smith said.
Game notes: Former Upper Lake great Laura Wilder was in attendance Saturday. The former Cougars star is Lake County’s all-time scoring leader. She earned a scholarship to Washington State University after graduating from Upper Lake in 1994. Her number along with the numbers of teammates Annie Pivniska and Jennifer Bryant have since been retired by the school. Saturday’s game drew a large but not quite capacity crowd. “The crowd here tonight was great,” he said.
