POTTER VALLEY — In what was probably the girls championship game of the Potter Valley Tournament even if it was just one of two semifinals on Friday to determine Saturday’s finalists, the Willits Wolverines avenged a recent loss to Upper Lake by stunning the Cougars 59-56 in overtime.
It was a rematch of the Small Schools Classic championship game held last weekend at Upper Lake where the Cougars (6-1) rallied from 10 points down in the fourth quarter to edge the Wolverines 39-37. Upper Lake had to scramble again in the fourth quarter to catch Willits, tying the game at 54-all on a Madison Noble basket with less than a minute left, but Upper Lake squandered a pair of scoring opportunities in the final seconds, which sent the game into overtime.
Once in the extra period, Willits scored first and led the rest of the way. Upper Lake’s only two points in the overtime were free throws by Heaven’Lee Loans Arrow.
“We had a couple of chances to win it (in regulation), but we turned the ball over,” Upper Lake head coach Mike Smith said. “We had a lot of turnovers.”
While Upper Lake hurt itself with mistakes, the play of Willits guards Lily Barrett and Laila Britton played a significant role in the outcome. Barrett led the team with 22 points and the two players combined for seven 3-pointers.
“Barrett and Britton are tough,” Smith said. “You give them any space and they’re putting the ball up. They knocked them down tonight.”
Upper Lake led 10-5 after one quarter but Willits took a 24-23 lead into halftime. The Wolverines (4-2) had a 39-37 advantage going to the fourth quarter.
Willits beat Upper Lake on the offensive and defensive boards, according to Smith.
“We gave them second opportunities,” he added.
Friday’s game was similar to last weekend’s meeting in Upper Lake in another regard, according to Smith.
“I still had that frustrated feeling the whole game,” he said. “We couldn’t get a consistent flow in our offense all game.”
Smith said the Cougars’ effort was there, but the execution was lacking at times at both ends of the floor.
“We’re gonna learn from it and move on,” he added.
Noble’s 17 points led the Cougars and Loans Arrow had 13. Other leaders were Taylar Minnis with nine points and Zoey Petrie with seven. Maddy Young led the team with seven steals.
In other girls tournament action Friday:
Clear Lake 42, Kelseyville 26
At Healdsburg, Clear Lake’s Sierra Bruch scored the game’s first eight points as the Cardinals broke out to a 10-0 lead en route to a 42-26 victory over the Kelseyville Knights in the consolation semifinals of the Redwood Empire Invitational.
Clear Lake (3-3) played its “A” game in the first half against Kelseyville (0-3), opening up a 15-2 lead after one quarter and a 28-10 lead by halftime.
“We jumped on them early,” Clear Lake head coach Phil Psalmonds said.
The Cardinals’ play over the final two quarters was less than inspired, according to Psalmonds.
“It wasn’t pretty,” he said. “I think it was a case of the girls knew they were going to win and they weren’t as focused. We were going through the motions.”
Bruch and Montana Wells led the Cardinals with 10 points apiece, Sydney Howe added eight and Amber Smart had six. Bruch had two of the Cardinals’ three 3-pointers.
Emily Sandoval’s 12 points led Kelseyville and Larue Furlani had 10.
Clear Lake plays Ukiah for the consolation championship Saturday at 2 p.m. while Kelseyville plays Fortuna for seventh place at 12:30 p.m.
Durham 52, Lower Lake 44
At Durham, the Lower Lake Trojans lost to Durham in the consolation semifinals of the Durham Tournament and will play for seventh place Saturday.
Lower Lake (0-5) fell behind 17-9 in the first quarter but played Durham on even terms the rest of the way.
“We have lots of injuries we are working through currently,” Lower Lake head coach Shannon Tubbs said. “We played better, but we had only eight girls. We finished with seven.”
Margarita Cordova’s 13 points powered the Trojans while Kyleigh Mock and Sonja Desano added eight points apiece. Terilyn Jo Jermany had seven.
The Trojans received a team-high 13 rebounds from Rebecca Theodorou and five steals from Izabella Salazar.
After wrapping up tournament play Saturday, the Trojans return home Tuesday to host Kelseyville in a North Central League I game.
