LAKEPORT >> Stella Hill’s defense has the Clear Lake Cardinals back atop the North Central League I varsity girls basketball standings just three days after they lost the top spot with a loss at Fort Bragg.
“It feels good to be back in control of our own destiny,” Clear Lake head coach Phil Psalmonds said after the Cardinals handed the Cloverdale Eagles their first league loss, 44-40, on Tuesday night in Lakeport.
With Fort Bragg idle on Tuesday, Clear Lake is now 7-1 while both Cloverdale and Fort Bragg are 6-1. Those two teams have yet to face each other as their Jan. 5 game in Fort Bragg was postponed because of one in a series of storms that slammed into the Redwood Empire this month.
Assigned to guard Cloverdale’s top player, Tylie Hatcher, Hill, a senior, held Hatcher (15 points) to just five points in the second half.
“She played such good defense,” Psalmonds said of Hill. “She fought through screens, she was awesome.”
Hill replaced junior guard Amber Smart over the final two quarters.
“Amber gives us a little more offense when she’s out there but we needed Hill’s defense tonight,” Psalmonds said.
The two teams were never separated by much during the first three quarters. It was 12-all after the opening period, 22-all at halftime and 31-26 in Clear Lake’s favor going to the fourth quarter.
“Once we took the lead that was it,” Psalmonds said of a 9-4 third quarter. “We got up by as many as nine early in the fourth quarter.”
Clear Lake milked the 35-second possession clock on several occasions and took advantage of the foul trouble that Cloverdale’s post players found themselves in late in the game to hold off the Eagles.
While the Cardinals finished strong against Cloverdale, they struggled at the outset.
“We turned the ball over on our first seven possessions,” Psalmonds said.
Sierra Bruch and Montana Wells led a balanced offense with 13 points apiece. Rubi Ford and Abby Mertle added seven each.
“It was a good team effort,” Psalmonds said.
The Cardinals have the league bye on Thursday before returning to action Saturday in Willits.
In the junior varsity game, Kiley Voris scored 13 points and Hannah Garrity added seven as Clear Lake held off Cloverdale for a 39-38 win. Kam Cresto and Karsyn Greer, who had two 3-pointers, finished with six points apiece.
Like the varsity team, Clear Lake’s JV finish the first half of league play at 7-1.
In other NCL I girls action Thursday:
Lower Lake 57, St. Helena 26
At Lower Lake, with her teammates feeding her the ball all night long, Lower Lake junior guard Tiahna Tubbs racked up a team-high 31 points as the Trojans closed out the first half of their league schedule with a strong effort against the St. Helena Saints.
“Her teammates were finding her as she leaked out and she did a real good job attacking the basket,” Tubbs said of his daughter’s big night. “(Izabella) Salazar did a good job of finding her and so did (Ayla) Ales.”
Added Tubbs, “Salazar had a real good game. Her points (four) don’t show what she does for the team.”
Lower Lake’s coach also was pleased with the rebounding of Rebecca Theodorou.
Frustrated with his player’s many 3-point attempts in the first half, Tubbs put a no-3-pointers rule into effect in the third quarter and the Trojans (3-5, 6-12) responded by playing one of their better quarters of the season — they outscored St. Helena 20-4 to take a commanding 45-17 lead.
Ales finished with seven points and Samantha Hernandez had six.
The Trojans open the second half of their league schedule on the road Thursday in Middletown.
Lower Lake also won the JV game, 32-21, behind 11 points from Alyxa Milano and seven from Brooke Benson.
“We’re continuing to learn to how to make adjustments in game, on the fly,” Lower Lake head coach Jessica Wiley said. “The girls work well together but have a hard time building self-confidence. Having back-to-back games is a struggle to get the energy up. It’s a busy week and we don’t have a lot of time work on (fixing) mistakes, but these girls love to learn and improve. I have high expectations for the rest of the week.”
Lower Lake (6-2, 10-6) dropped a non-league game Monday night at Upper Lake. The Trojans are on the road Thursday to play Middletown before returning home Saturday against Kelseyville, their fourth game of the week.
Willits 56, Kelseyville 32
At Willits, other than Olivia Hommer’s double-double of 11 points and 16 rebounds, the Kelseyville Knights struggled to do much right in a road loss to the Willits Wolverines, who took control of the game with a 18-9 first quarter.
Kelseyville finishes the first half of league play at 0-8 while also dropping to 1-17 overall.
Mikaylah Meyer scored six points for the Knights and Faith McIntire had five, including the team’s only 3-pointer.
The news was better for Kelseyville’s JV club, which came away with a 36-19 win. Brianna Davis powered the Knights with 16 points and Matisyn Mateer had nine.
Kelseyville’s teams open the second half of their league schedule Thursday against Roseland University Prep in Santa Rosa.
