CLOVERDALE — Paige Astley scored 15 of her team-leading 17 points on 3-pointers Friday night as the Middletown Mustangs rolled out a 25-point first quarter in beating the Cloverdale Eagles 59-35 in North Central League I varsity girls basketball action at Cloverdale.

The NCL I leaders improved to 8-0 in the league standings and 13-5 overall while Cloverdale dropped to 5-6 and 7-11.

"She came out blazing," Middletown head coach Andy Brown said of Astley's 3-point barrage.

Jaidyn Brown (eight points) also had a 3-pointer in the first quarter while freshman Mia Hoogendoorn scored seven of her 15 points in the period.

"She's becoming quite the impact player," Brown said of Hoogendoorn, who hit a 3-pointer -- the Mustangs' eighth of the game -- in the fourth quarter.

"We took care of things," Brown said of Middletown's 25-9 lead after one quarter and 34-13 halftime advantage. "We forced some turnovers and they couldn't do anything against us in that first half."

Middletown continued to pull away with a 19-9 third quarter that featured Astley's final two 3-pointers of the night.

The Mustangs have won six straight since a 52-33 non-league loss to Maria Carrillo on Dec. 21 in Santa Rosa.

"We're playing really well right now," Brown said.

The Mustangs host Willits on Saturday, play at Lower Lake on Monday, and travel to Willits on Tuesday. Willits (6-2) is the only team that has a realistic chance of catching Middletown in the league standings, so the next three games are big ones for Brown's club as it takes aim on a league championship.

Summer Lands led the Eagles (5-6, 7-11) with 12 points and Tylie Hatcher had 11.

Cloverdale won the junior varsity game 33-21. Bella Santiago's 10 points led the Mustangs and Abby Tacla had six.

In other girls action Friday:

Clear Lake 58, Kelseyville 28

At Lakeport, the Clear Lake Cardinals switched to an all-guard lineup during a 20-point third quarter while putting the finishing touches on their NCL I win over archrival Kelseyville.

Clear Lake's Abby Mertle (22) and Kelseyville's Larue Furlani battle for the rebound. (Photo courtesy of Trett Bishop)

Clear Lake (5-3, 8-9) played well enough in the first half to open up a 26-12 lead, but the Cardinals really found their stride in the third quarter.

"I was pleasantly surprised how well our small lineup boxed out," Psalmonds said of the Cardinals' strong rebounding against a taller Kelseyville squad that suited up only six players.

"We struggled a little bit at first," Psalmonds said. "It's a rivalry game and I think they were keyed up. Once we settled down we starting getting good looks and taking good shots."

Sydney Howe's 18 points led a balanced Clear Lake attack. Amber Smart had 12, Rubi Ford 10 and Sierra Bruch eight.

"I think we play good enough defense, it's usually our offense that holds us back, but we played well tonight," said Psalmonds, who may use his all-guard look in future games. "It's late in the season but we're still experimenting."

Emily Sandoval's 11 points led the Knights (1-7, 1-14) and Larue Furlani added eight.

Clear Lake won the JV game 41-31.

Clear Lake hits the road Saturday to play Cloverdale in a varsity-only game at 7 p.m. Kelseyville plays at Willits on Sunday.

Fort Bragg 40, Lower Lake 30

At Lower Lake, the red-hot Fort Bragg Timberwolves won their seventh straight league game, knocking off the Lower Lake Trojans in NCL I action.

Fort Bragg improved to 10-2 in league and 15-6 overall. The Timberwolves have won 10 of their last 11. They trail only Middletown (8-0) in the league standings.

Lower Lake (3-5, 5-11) trailed 20-9 at halftime.

"We couldn't hit anything out there," Lower Lake head coach Shannon Tubbs said of the first two quarters. "We had a rough night shooting."

Lower Lake closed to 25-19 after three quarters but Fort Bragg's lead was never in serious jeopardy down the stretch with three of the Trojans' starters in serious foul trouble.

Tiahna Tubbs (11 points), Kyleigh Mock and Margo Cordova all finished the game with four fouls.

"Our three best players," Tubbs said.

Tiahna Tubbs, a sophomore, not only led the team in scoring but in steals with five.

"It was her best game of the season defensively," Tubbs said of his daughter's play. "She was all over the floor tonight."

Added Tubbs, "Defensively I thought we played really well. The offense got the good, quality shots I wanted, but we missed a lot them."

Terilyn Jo Jermany pulled down a team-best seven rebounds.

Lower Lake is home Monday against league-leading Middletown.

There was no JV game against Fort Bragg. One of Lower Lake's top JV players, Serenity McCoy, was called up to the varsity squad for Friday's action and hit a 3-pointer.

Upper Lake 67, RUP 45

At Santa Rosa, the Upper Lake Cougars shredded Roseland University Prep's man-to-man defense while rolling to a big win over the Knights in non-league action.

"We came out really strong, our starting five was very focused," Upper Lake head coach Mike Smith said of the 20-4 lead the Cougars (16-2) established in the first quarter. "We were raring to go, it was a step up in competition and we were looking forward to it."

A former NCL II team, RUP (5-11) moved up into the NCL I this season.

Against the Knights' man-to-man defense, the Cougars successfully penetrated the paint and either scored down low where Taylar Minnis had 11 points, or kicked the ball outside to the likes of Zoey Petrie (14 points) or Heaven'Lee Loans Arrow, who scored inside and outside while leading Upper Lake with 17 points.

"She's really coming into her own, picking her spots and her understandings of the game just gets better and better, which is huge," Smith said of Loans Arrow, who finished with another double-double and also had a handful of assists.

"She had at least 10 rebounds," Smith said.

RUP switched to a zone defense midway through the second quarter and Upper Lake struggled with it at first before making the adjustment, according to Smith. However, the Knights never solved a Cougars defense led by Petrie and Maddy Young.

"They really clamped down on their No. 1," Smith said of RUP senior guard Lindsey Arellano, the team's leading scorer on the season. "They held her to 10 points."

"We're making progress to get to where we want to be," Smith said with an eye toward the North Coast Section Division 5 playoffs that open in less than two weeks.

Upper Lake takes another step up in competition Monday when it plays non-league opponent Piner High School in Santa Rosa. Starting time for the varsity-only game has been moved back to 7 p.m.

The Cougars won the JV game 49-32 behind 20 points from Hope Marcks, 10 from Kali Minnis and seven from Jordann Gudmundson.