By Caleb Knudsen
By halftime Tuesday night the Healdsburg Greyhounds basketball team seemed to have things well in hand. After a relatively quiet first period that ended 7-6 to the home team’s advantage, the Lady Greys exploded for 19 points in the second quarter, doing what they do best with a smothering defense and rapid, accurate shooting from inside the key—and beyond the arc.
The second quarter began with two straight threes by Amelia Wickersham, then a pair of dynamic run-and-gun plays from Allie Espinoza and Ashley Behrens, followed by two more threes by Wickersham, and suddenly the score was 26-10 at the half. The total spoke of the dominant 19-4 second quarter the Greyhounds delivered.
The crowd at Smith Robinson was loud and only grew louder as the game progressed. Fans foot-stomped to distract the St. Vincent free-throw shooter, usually junior Andrea Hartman or sophomore Samantha Sarlatte, and often the thunder did its job. Meanwhile a smothering Healdsburg defense under the net prevented the Mustangs from gaining a gallop, and as the third quarter began the smart money was on the Greyhounds. (Note: There is no gaming allowed in high school basketball, or in dog racing either.)
But a growing series of personal fouls against the Greyhounds, which at first looked like the luck of the draw but soon became suspicious, choked them in the second half. At one point coach Greg Marguglio cried out, “Unbelievable!” at a seemingly egregious call, and was rewarded with a technical foul that allowed Hartman to split her four free-throws for two more points, drawing the score ever closer.
Despite a sweet-as-honey Behrens turn-around jump to end the third, this time Healdsburg was outscored 3-12 in the quarter. It all came down to the final quarter—either for the fourth-place Mustangs or the second-place Greyhounds, vying for the pleasure of meeting undefeated Ukiah on Friday for the league championship.
The Mustangs—who pulled off an upset by defeating Healdsburg in January, 42-35, only to lose their home rematch just five days ago 47-26—ultimately could not outrun or outshoot the Greyhounds a second time. Though they played a close fourth quarter, the game ended with the Hounds holding on, 39-35.
Wickersham shot a total of five three-pointers to give Healdsburg control of the momentum, and the dogged, one might say professional persistence of the Greyhound girls kept them at least 4 points ahead, despite what the coaches—and many fans—still saw as some injustices by the officiating team, and hoots and boos grew as the game neared its close.
“They had 33 free-throws and Healdsburg had six,” grumbled an amateur statistician. “What does that tell you?”
Wickersham ended with 15 points and Behrens with 9 for Healdsburg, while Samantha Wood of St. Vincent was the high scorer with 17. Marguglio credited St. Vincent “for fighting back in the second half. We’re fortunate SV’s 33 trips to the foul line didn’t swipe the win,” he snarked.
The final game in the 2025 NBL Redwood league takes place on Friday, starting at 6pm, at the new Rancho Cotate High School Theater-Auditorium-Gym, or TAG.
With Ukiah’s 50-28 walkover of Santa Rosa Tuesday night, the league championship game will be played between Healdsburg (8-3 in league play) and the undefeated Wildcats (11-0).
