The varsity basketball Greyhounds will be gunning for a strong finish to the North Bay League campaign this week, hoping to extend their season for as long as possible.
Healdsburg (3-5, 10-11) is coming off a solid two-game road swing week on the NBL hard-court, beginning with a 54-51 win over Windsor followed by a 43-32 loss to first-place Montgomery.
The Hounds will close out the NBL Oak Division schedule with upcoming home dates against Windsor (Feb. 8, after press time) and Santa Rosa (Friday, Feb. 11). Both varsity games tip off at 7:30 p.m. Also looming on the horizon is a possible at-large berth in the North Coast Section playoffs, which begin in two weeks. Healdsburg is currently the No. 11 ranked team in NCS Division 4.
County health ordinance lifted
Healdsburg’s Feb. 11 home finale versus Santa Rosa will come a day after the 30-day county health ordinance restricting indoor fan capacity to 50 people is lifted. Although fans will be required to wear masks, there will be no restrictions on the number of spectators in the stands.
“We hope to have a few more people in the stands to celebrate our seniors and this team,” Hounds head coach Kevin Leffew said. “This has been a great group of guys, and I’m hopeful they can have one more game in Smith Robinson Gymnasium with a home crowd.”
Hounds gain split
Healdsburg kicked off the latest string of outings in a Feb. 2 visit to Windsor, shaking off a slow start in the opening quarter with a 19-point second period to grab a 27-23 lead at the half. The Hounds kept the heat on in a well-played third quarter, combining solid defensive work with great offensive scoring balance to open up a 43-32 lead after three. The Jaguars would not go quietly, mounting a furious fourth quarter comeback that would end with a missed three-pointer at the buzzer as Healdsburg escaped with a 54-51 victory.
“We made several mistakes throughout and down the stretch and had a tough time finishing, but it’s good to get a league win on the road,” Leffew noted. “Windsor plays a different style of basketball which is a little slow and they play hard, so it was a tight game throughout. We couldn’t ever put them away once we took the lead,” he added.
Healdsburg boasted four players in double figures, led by Sam Vanden Heuvel (16 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals), Max Hubbell (12 points, 7 rebounds), Sebby Leffew (11 points, 5 assists) and Graham McDonald (10 points).
The Greyhounds traveled to take on league-leading Montgomery on Friday, faced with the task of overcoming a stifling Viking defense. Healdsburg stayed within striking distance to trail 21-15 at the half, but managed just seven points in the third period as Montgomery maintained the lead. The Hounds battled gamely in the final eight minutes but the Vikings would prevail, 43-32.
Montgomery smothered us (defensively),” Kevin Leffew said. “It was a physical game and overall, Montgomery is bigger and longer than we are, and they kept rotating fresh legs at us. We just never got it going on the offensive end.”
Sebby Leffew led the scoring attack, hitting five of eight shots from beyond the arc for a team-high 19 points.
