LAKE COUNTY — A rare home doubleheader, an all-county first-round matchup, and a No. 16 seed taking on a No. 1 seed are part of the postseason landscape for the six Lake County varsity teams moving on to the North Coast Section basketball playoffs this coming week.
Clear Lake and Upper Lake high schools are sending both their boys and girls team to the Division 5 playoffs, which open Tuesday. Winners advance to the quarterfinals Friday at the home sites of the highest surviving seeds. Semifinals are Feb. 22 and the finals either Feb. 25 or Feb. 26.
Middletown High School’s boys and girls teams open play Wednesday in the Division 4 playoffs. Winners advance to the quarterfinals Saturday at the home sites of the highest surviving seeds. The semifinals follow Feb. 23 and the finals are either Feb. 25 or Feb. 26.
Both the Division 4 and 5 fields are 16 teams strong. Teams good enough to reach the finals, and sometimes just the semifinals, will move on to the NorCal playoffs March 1-8. The CIF State Championships are March 11-12.
Division 5 girls
Clear Lake and Upper Lake squared off way back on Nov. 30 with the Cougars winning 57-47 on their own court. They’ll meet there again Tuesday night at 7 p.m., with the winner moving on to the quarterfinals Friday and the loser ending its 2021-22 season.
Upper Lake (19-2) won its second straight North Central League II championship this season while Clear Lake (13-9), helped by a six-game winning streak to end the regular season, finished in a virtual tie for second place with Fort Bragg, a Division 4 playoff qualifier, in the final NCL I standings.
The Clear Lake-Upper Lake winner advances to Friday’s quarterfinals against the winner of a first-round game between No. 2 seed Branson School of Ross (15-8) and No. 15 The Bay School (8-11) of San Francisco.
The top six seeds in Division 5 are No. 1 Mt. Diablo (21-4) of Concord, No. 2 Branson School, No. 3 San Domenico (17-10) of San Anselmo, No. 4 Berean Christian (20-6) of Walnut Creek, No. 5 University High School (11-8) of San Francisco, and No. 6 Head-Royce (13-6) of Oakland.
Division 5 boys
Clear Lake High School’s varsity boys are the No. 6 seed in the Division 5 boys field. The Cardinals open at home against No. 12 seed Cornerstone Christian (20-7) of Antioch, a team the Cardinals beat 80-52 in the quarterfinals in 2020. Tip-off is 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Clear Lake completed only 12 of its 16 scheduled NCL I games because of COVID-19 postponements, including a five-game-in-five-days stretch to close out the regular season. The Cardinals finished third in the standings at 8-4 and were 12-8 overall.
The Clear Lake-Cornerstone Christian winner advances to the quarterfinals Friday against the winner of a first-round game between No. 3 Athenian (16-3) of Danville and No. 14 Redwood Christian (8-11) of San Lorenzo.
Upper Lake (11-10) has the toughest assignment of any Lake County playoff team as it hits the road to play No. 1 seed Cloverdale (23-1), the NCL I co-champion, at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
While knocking off the highly regarded Eagles is a tall order for head coach Miles Hayes’ squad, Upper Lake’s varsity girls pulled off such an upset in 2017 when the 16th-seeded Cougars stunned No. 1 seed Convent of the Sacred Heart of San Francisco 58-56 in an opening-round game.
The Cloverdale-Upper Lake winner draws the first-round winner between No. 8 St. Vincent (14-10) of Petaluma and No. 9 Technology (11-7) of Rohnert Park in Friday’s quarterfinals.
The top six seeds in the Division 5 boys field are No. 1 Cloverdale, No. 2 Head-Royce (19-4) of Oakland, No. 3 Athenian, No. 4 Urban (14-11) of San Francisco, No. 5 International (19-7) of San Francisco, and No. 6 Clear Lake.
Division 4 girls
Undefeated North Central League I champion Middletown (18-5) is the No. 5 seed in the Division 4 girls field and the Mustangs face a familiar foe, No. 12 seed Fort Bragg (18-7), in first-round action Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Middletown won both league meetings, but the second game between the two teams on Jan. 22 in Middletown was a battle to the end as the Mustangs prevailed 49-44. Middletown roughed up the Timberwolves 52-28 in Fort Bragg in mid-December.
The Middletown-Fort Bragg game completes a doubleheader Wednesday night at The Barn in Middletown where the Middletown boys host Stuart Hall of San Francisco at 5:30 p.m. in first-round action.
Middletown’s girls may be without junior guard Jaidyn Brown (COVID-19), who played well down the stretch for the Mustangs during their 13-0 league run. Her status is still up in the air.
The Middletown-Fort Bragg winner advances to the quarterfinals against the winner of another first-round game between No. 4 Gateway (20-4) of San Francisco and No. 13 Fortuna (12-14).
The top six seeds in the Division 4 girls field are No. 1 Marin Catholic (23-4) of Kentfield, No. 2 Piedmont (20-5), No. 3 Lick-Wilmerding (19-5) of San Francisco, No. 4 Gateway, No. 5 Middletown and No. 6 Terra Linda (14-14) of San Rafael.
Division 4 boys
Middletown (20-3) is the No. 7 seed in the Division 4 boys playoffs and hosts No. 10 Stuart Hall (15-11) of San Francisco in a first-round game Wednesday. Formerly a Division 5 power, Stuart Hall has since moved up into Division 4. In 2020, Stuart Hall beat Clear Lake 66-58 in the Division 5 championship game at Kezar Pavilion in San Francisco.
Middletown shared the NCL I championship this season with Cloverdale, the No. 1 seed in Division 5.
If the Mustangs prevail, they’ll face the winner of a first-round game between No. 2 seed Arcata (23-3) and No. 15 St. Joseph Notre Dame (4-17) of Alameda in the quarterfinals Saturday. Middletown may be without senior guard Cole Ketchum, who aggravated the same ankle he sprained earlier this season during the Mustangs’ league finale Saturday at Kelseyville.
The Kelseyville Knights (11-12) applied for an at-large berth in Division 4 but didn’t make it.
The top six seeds in the Division 4 boys field are No. 1 Marin Catholic (19-8) of Kentfield, No. 2 Arcata, No. 3 University High School (21-7) of San Francisco, No. 4 Justin-Siena (15-10) of Napa, No. 5 McKinleyville (15-8) and No. 6 Del Norte (15-7) of Crescent City.
