Lady Eagles slip from title contention
Spotting McKinleyville an 11-point halftime lead, the Cloverdale Eagles stormed back in the second half to beat the Panthers 62-60 in a non-league varsity boys basketball game on Saturday in McKinleyville.
Cloverdale, now 14-5 overall, won its eighth straight game behind 23 points and 12 rebounds from Jayson McMillan. The victory by the Division V Eagles over the Division IV Panthers, who fell to 13-7 on the season, was Cloverdale’s third win of the week. On Friday they avenged their only league loss with a 69-49 win at home against Clear Lake, and on Jan. 24 they knocked off Fort Bragg 65-50 at Cloverdale.
Entering the week of Jan. 30, the Eagles faced a first-place league showdown on Jan. 31 at Kelseyville before hitting the road for a Feb. 2 game at Middletown. They return home Feb. 4 to play Willits.
While Cloverdale’s boys continue their pursuit of a third straight North Central League I championship, the Cloverdale varsity girls are likely going to have to settle for something less than a league title after dropping a 46-41 decision on Friday in Lakeport. It was the Eagles’ fourth loss in eight league games and leaves them three full games behind not only Clear Lake (7-1) in the NCL I standings, but also Kelseyville and Lower Lake, both 7-1.
Cloverdale’s girls did beat Fort Bragg 52-31 in a home game on Jan. 24.
Varsity boys
Cloverdale head coach Steve Bernardi was unable to make the trip north to McKinleyville because of a work commitment, but the Eagles found their way back from a 35-24 halftime deficit under the leadership of assistant coach Tony Martinez.
“Tony did a hell of a job,” Bernardi said. “I’m really proud of their play. It was exciting basketball and a big win for the team. These guys always give 110 percent.”
Cloverdale erased nearly all of McKinleyville’s lead with a 21-11 third quarter. The Eagles’ defense clamped down on the Panthers in the second half, limiting them to 25 points.
“It was a good second half comeback, a good win against a solid team under adverse conditions,” Bernardi said with an eye toward the 3.5-hour road trip to McKinleyville.
While another McMillan double-double led the way, a healthier Jordan Persons added 13 points as he continues to recover from an ankle injury. Luke Pope added seven points and six assists while Christian Chavez had seven points and four assists.
Cloverdale didn’t have its greatest shooting night, hitting only 20 of 61 shots from the field, but still managed to find a way to win on the road.
In their league win over Clear Lake on Friday, the Eagles avenged a 58-54 loss to the Cardinals on Jan. 3 in Lakeport where they were without McMillan (nose injury) for nearly the entire game. The Eagles fell behind 1-0 but scored 22 of the next 24 points to push ahead to stay.
Cloverdale had a 26-10 lead by the end of the first quarter and it would have been more except that Clear Lake’s Max De Leon, son of Clear Lake head coach Scott De Leon, buried a long 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Clear Lake made a run at Cloverdale in the second quarter to get as close as 11 points, but the Eagles put it away in the third quarter and led by as many as 31 late in the period.
Cloverdale was red-hot from the field both in the first (10-for-15) and third (9-for-14) quarters. McMillan, who finished with 22 points and 14 rebounds, didn’t even play in the final period. He scored all but two of his points in the first and third quarters.
Chavez added 11 points and four assists in the victory while Pope had eight points and five assists. Gage Hoover contributed nine points and Persons had seven.
In the Eagles’ win over Fort Bragg on Jan. 24, McMillan finished with 23 points and 15 rebounds, one of three Cloverdale players to score in double figures. Pope added 15 points and six assists while Hoover had 10 points and Chavez six.
“Anytime you hold a team to 50 that’s good,” Bernardi said. “Having Jordan back helped.”
Varsity girls
The Cloverdale varsity girls took a 33-25 lead into the fourth quarter but came up short against Clear Lake for the second time this season. The Eagles also dropped a 48-43 decision in overtime to the Cardinals back on Jan. 3 in Cloverdale, a game in which they led by seven entering the final period and by six with less than a minute to play.
Assistant coach Maribeth Kelly said the young Eagles, who graduated five seniors from the 2015-16 team, are still learning how to close teams out in the fourth quarter. All four of their league losses this season – including setbacks to Kelseyville and Lower Lake – were winnable games, according to Kelly.
“We’re capable of winning any game on a given night,” Kelly said.
With six games left in league play, including meetings with Lower Lake and Kelseyville, Kelly said Cloverdale will concentrate on the task at hand every game night. While winning the league title is a long shot at this point given the Eagles trail three different teams by three games in the standings, Kelly said the team’s focus will be on winning as many of those games as possible and qualifying for the season-ending postseason tournament that includes the top four league finishers.
“This league is real strong,” Kelly said. “We want to end up in the top four.”
Clear Lake rallied past Cloverdale with a 21-8 fourth quarter during which the Cardinals made 10 of 15 free throws. Valerie Hutton, who hit the big shots to beat the Eagles in Cloverdale on Jan. 3, also had the hot hand in Friday’s action with a team-best 16 points.
“We stopped scoring and they went to the foul line a lot,” Kelly said. “It was a super, super physical game and we’re not a very big team, so it was hard for us.”
Camryn Figueroa’s 18 points powered the Eagles and Tehya Bird had 10.
In the Eagles’ win over Fort Bragg on Jan. 24, Bird led the way 16 points and Kayli Person added 14.
Cloverdale outscored the Timberwolves 33-13 in the second half. “It was kind of ugly early on,” Kelly said. “It was hard for the girls to get in a rhythm the first part of the game. It was very physical.”
Kelly said her players adjusted their game accordingly in the second half and did a much better job.
Cloverdale was home Tuesday to play Kelseyville and hosts Middletown on Thursday before hitting the road Saturday against Willits.
