By Caleb Knudsen
When last we checked in with the Lady Greyhounds in their hunt for a follow-up championship season in the Redwood division, they had just dispatched the Elsie Allen Wolves with ease, 62-9. But dreams of another undefeated league season evaporated in the next game when they took to the road against Ukiah High.
Though the Hounds led 27-20 at the half, the scrappy Wildcats came out to dominate on their home court, scoring 17 points in the third quarter to take the lead, and holding on to close out the game as the winner, 46-42.
True to form, Ruby Leffew and Allie Espinoza each scored 10 points to share the honors, but Ukiah senior Samantha Wood beat them both with 14.
The win puts Ukiah in sole possession of first place in the Redwood. Ukiah is new to the league this year, and it’s a bigger school than Healdsburg, which remains the smallest school in their division.
“We probably align more with schools size-wise, like Cloverdale and the Lake County teams, but we’re staying solid where we are in the NBL Redwood division,” said coach Greg Marguglio.
The efficient 9-player Greyhound girls team defeated Piner on Tuesday night, 57-12. They will meet Santa Rosa on Thursday, which Marguglio anticipated to be another tough opponent in this revised Redwood lineup, since Windsor jumped to the bigger-school NBL-Oak division. Healdsburg, by the way, defeated Windsor on Dec. 3.
Boys Finding their Groove
The Healdsburg boys varsity basketball team continues to fight hard and play well, and while their record is already better than last year’s, it will be a long haul to the playoffs.
The new year began with a nice Jan. 3 win against upstream rival Cloverdale, 56-52, at Smith Robinson Gym, which put a bounce in their Adidas.
From the outset, the Greyhounds controlled the floor, and took each of the first three quarters to build up a 46-39 lead. The Eagles made an amped-up effort to climb back in the final frame and while they outscored the Hounds, it wasn’t enough and Healdsburg took the home game with a 56-52 win.
The game’s leading scorer was Thatcher Little with 21 points, followed by Ethan Overdorf with 16 for Healdsburg. But three Cloverdale players scored into double digits—Jaxson Randolph with 18, Braxton Montanye with 14 and Jesus Arizmendi with 12—proof that even the wins are hard-fought in high school basketball.
Unfortunately the one-game winning streak didn’t last, and Ukiah asserted itself on their home court, 66-42, despite a game-leading 20 points by Ethan Overdorf. For the Wildcats, Zach Martinez dropped 18 and Omaurie Phillips Porter had 12, but it’s still the cumulation of all players’ points that determines the winner, even in basketball.
On Friday, Jan. 10, they lost a home conference game against St. Vincent de Paul (Petaluma) by a score of 63-54. However, junior Cooper Conrad finally caught fire with 17 points, equaled by the big sophomore Overdorf’s own 17.
Coming up this week is Rancho Cotate on Jan. 15 (the Greyhounds fell, 79-43), followed by a home game on Friday, Jan. 17, against Elsie Allen. Elsie is 0-2 in the league so far, 4-9 overall. But it’s too early to count anyone out in the 2025 Redwood season, even the Greyhounds.
