LAKE COUNTY — Double-double performances by freshmen Heaven’Lee Loans Arrow and Madison Noble powered the Upper Lake High School varsity girls basketball team to a title-clinching 71-30 victory over Roseland University Prep of Santa Rosa nearly a year ago today in Upper Lake.
With the start of the 2020-21 high school sports season delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Lake County Record-Bee is taking a look back at the players and the teams who were making headlines during the 2019-20 season.
Varsity girls basketball
With the win, Upper Lake clinched now worse than a share of the North Central League II championship, its first title of any kind in girls basketball in 16 years. Along with improving to 6-0 in the league standings, the Cougars closed in on their 20th win of the 2019-20 campaign, improving to 19-3.
“Our last one (league title) was in 2004, so it’s been a long, long time,” Upper Lake head coach Mike Smith said as the Cougars won their eighth in a row. “The one in 2004 was a co-championship and we want it outright. We want to go get it. That’s our goal.
“We had lots of good emotion tonight,” Smith said of the Cougars’ final regular-season home, which included honoring the team’s lone senior, Alana Sanchez, who was one of four Upper Lake players to score in double digits.
Zoey Petrie led the way with 18 points followed by Loans Arrow with 13 points and 14 rebounds, Sanchez with 12 points, and Noble with 10 points and 12 rebounds.
“She was huge on the back side tonight,” Smith said of Noble. “It’s nice knowing we have her for the next 3½ years.”
The Cougars put the Knights away early, jumping on them in the first quarter for a 18-3 lead. Freshman point guard Maddy Young set the tone, according to Smith.
“Young continues to grow with her ability to run the show on that court,” Smith said. “Her voice on the floor through the coaches is what we need to take the next step.”
Young dished out 11 assists and also had six steals — both team highs — to go along with four points.
Upper Lake led 31-11 at halftime and 54-22 through three quarters. The Cougars ended up with eight 3-pointers.
Junior varsity
Upper Lake won the junior varsity game 51-27. Taylar Minnis led the Cougars (5-0, 17-4) with 20 points and Tristin Rhodes chipped in 12 more.
The Cougars started slow but came on strong in the second half, according to coach Angelina Arroyo.
“After half they got it together and came out and played solid defense and kept RUP scoreless in the third quarter,” Arroyo said. “They forced a lot of turnovers, which we turned into points.”
