LOWER LAKE >> After a break of 21 months because of the COVID-19 pandemic that wiped out the entire 2020-21 season, the Lower Lake High School varsity girls basketball team returned to the floor Saturday during a 64-19 season-opening loss to the Healdsburg Greyhounds in non-league action at Lower Lake.
Lower Lake (0-1) was well below full strength with three players, including the only two varsity holdovers from the 2019-20 season, Margo Cordova and Sonja Desano, unable to play. Cordova missed the game because she is out of the country and Desano was not feeling well.
“That’s a huge factor right there,” Lower Lake head coach Shannon Tubbs said of not having his only two players with any type of varsity experience. “Essentially it was the first varsity game (and in some cases first high school game) for everyone else we had out there.”
The Trojans also need to be in better shape, according to Tubbs, who said his players were operating on sore legs by the end of the game.
“We definitely need more conditioning,” he said.
Once Healdsburg’s defense identified the shooters the short-handed Trojans did have on the floor, Tubbs said the Greyhounds “clamped down on them” the rest of the way.
Healdsburg led 17-7 after one quarter and 34-6 at halftime.
Tubbs said the Trojans played marginally better in the second half.
“It was a good evaluation game to figure out where we are,” Tubbs said. “Nineteen points is a quarter goal, not a game goal.”
Kyleigh Mock led the Trojans with seven points, including a 3-pointer. Tiahna Tubbs, daughter of the coach, and Terilyn Jo Jermany added five points apiece in their varsity debut.
“Mock played a hell of a game on offense and defense, she was all over the floor,” Tubbs said. “Healdsburg did a good job on defense, but she still managed to get buckets, put up shots.”
Tubbs also praised the rebounding of Rebecca Theodorou.
“She did a good job on the glass,” Tubbs said.
The Trojans have a long break until they take the floor again Nov. 29 at home against Maxwell.
