LAKEPORT — When these two varsity girls basketball teams last met, the Upper Lake Cougars ended the Clear Lake Cardinals' season with a 61-44 win in the opening round of the North Coast Section Division 5 playoffs at Upper Lake.
On Tuesday night, facing each other in the 2022-23 season opener for both teams, the outcome wasn't much different as the Upper Lake Cougars pulled away in the third quarter and went on to win 53-38 in non-league action at Lakeport.
"We were happy with our first game," said Upper Lake's Annie Petrie, who is sharing head coaching duties with Raelene Cromwell this season. "All the girls got into the game and we were able to see them in a game situation, which gives us a better idea of what we need to work on in practice."
Heaven'Lee Loans Arrow led the Cougars with 21 points while fellow senior Maddy Young added 12 more.
"Upper Lake looked good," Clear Lake head coach Phil Psalmonds said. "Maddy Young is a physical player. You have to earn stuff against her."
Added Psalmonds of the Cougars, the defending North Central League II champions, "It didn't look like their first game."
Clear Lake was definitely in a first-game mode, according to Psalmonds.
After playing a competitive first half with Upper Lake and trailing only 26-20 at halftime, the Cardinals (0-1) simply stopped functioning on offense in a third quarter where the Cougars outscored them 14-4.
"We stopped running the stuff that was working for us and started playing street ball," he said. "We need to be more disciplined and run out sets. We probably had more turnovers than shots in the third quarter."
"We had a good third quarter," Petrie said. "We were staying true to our game plan."
Loans Arrow scored nearly half of her game total — 10 points — in the third quarter.
There were some bright spots for the Cardinals, including a team-best 15 points from senior Montana Wells.
"She did a good job, I'm really proud of her," Psalmonds said.
Stella Hill also came off the bench to score all six of her points in the second quarter while junior guard Amber Smart added seven points.
"Amber played really solid," Psalmonds said. "It didn't look like her first game."
Upper Lake, coming off a 20-3 season in 2021-22, returns eight seniors.
"We're counting on our seniors to lead us, but we have a group of juniors who are very hungry," Petrie said.
The two teams won't have long to wait until they play each other again. They'll meet Friday at 6:30 p.m. in the second round of the round-robin Cougar Classic at Upper Lake High School. Action opens Thursday with first-round games. Clear Lake plays Willits at 3:30 p.m. and Upper Lake takes on Maxwell at 6:30 p.m. The tournament runs through Saturday.
Upper Lake beat Clear Lake 32-20 in the junior varsity game.
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