On some Saturday’s, non-league games get sprinkled in during the league season. There were a couple of those this weekend.  One of them ended the Sonoma Academy undefeated season and another was a nice win for the Sonoma Valley Girls.
St. Joseph-Notre Dame of Alameda came to Sonoma Academy and took a 58-35 win. The game was between the No. 1 and No. 4 teams in the Division 5 power rankings.
After a close first half, Lauren Reed hit a three to start the third quarter to make it 25-23. That was part of a game high 25 points. After that is was all St. Joseph-Notre Dame. A pressing defense bothered Sonoma Academy all day. Then Ayesa Kearns, who was the biggest player on the floor, took charge offensively. She scored 10 of her 14 points during a 20-2 run to put things away.

St. Joseph-Notre Dame is now 17-5 on the season. In the power rankings behind them in Division 5 is Cloverdale at No. 2.
The game Sonoma Valley played will help them come NCS seeding time. Emma Stanfield hit the game winning free throw with no time left on the clock to give them a 43-42 win over Tamalpais.
Tamalpais drops to 19-3 on the season and is No. 3 in the Division 3 power rankings. Sonoma Valley is No. 12 in the Division 3 Power Rankings. That should change quite a bit when they are re-figured on Monday.
RANKINGS
No. 1 Cardinal Newman (17-4) (Last Week No. 1)…The first time through league the “closest” final was a 28 point win over Rancho Cotate. The first game of the second half in the rematch they won by the biggest margin in any league game. In the 93-29 win they did their best Warriors imitation getting 30 assists out of 36 baskets. Taylor Hextrum had a line of 12 points, six rebounds and four steals in playing a little over half the game.
No. 2 Santa Rosa (13-8) (2)…A two win week gives them as big of lead for second place as Cardinal Newman has for first. The big win was over Casa Grande in a game they trailed most of the way before pulling out a 64-58 win. Mireya Lopez had a season high 20 points and followed that up with 15 points in a 55-32 win over Windsor. She has scored in double figures in ten of the last eleven games to get her season average over ten points a game.
No. 3 Sonoma Valley (14-8) (9)…They get a big jump after a big week. Forty eight hours before the win over Tamalpais, they defeated Analy 44-38 which moved them into first place in the SCL race. In eight days they had wins over Healdsburg, Analy and Tamalpais and overall have won seven straight.
No. 4 Kelseyville (17-3) (5)…They have a nine game winning. After winning the first three by a combined seven points, including a double overtime win over Cloverdale, the last six have been by double figures and five of those by at least twenty. Junior Alma Perez scored 21 points in a both games of a two win week.
No. 5 Middletown (15-5) (6)…After the loss to Kelseyville they bounced back with a two win week. In seven league wins they have outscored opponents an average of 49-32. Ashlyn Welton averaged over 30 points a game in the wins.
No. 6 Analy (11-10) (3)…The loss to Sonoma Valley was its first league loss. Sophie McFadden and Bailey Hunter each scored 10 points in the loss. The two had a combined seven games in double figures scoring going into the game. Both are also juniors.
No. 7 Montgomery (14-7) (4)…The good news is they are finished with Cardinal Newman. They celebrated that with one of their best wins of the season, rallying in the second half to get a 48-45 win at Ukiah. Shayla Newman had another big game with 24 points and 15 rebound, her ninth double-double of the season. Her average for the season is 15.6 and 10.6.
No. 8 Sonoma Academy (17-1) (8)… Before the loss on Saturday they had two one sided league wins.  Gabrielle Tukman scored a game high 13 in a win over Technology.
No. 9 Cloverdale (17-4) (NR)…Have won six straight and nine of eleven with all the wins by double figures. One of the losses was in double overtime to Kelseyville. Angel Bernardi had a 14 point, 10 rebound game in a win over Clear Lake.
No. 10 Healdsburg (18-3) (NR)…Bounced back from the loss to Sonoma Valley with a three win week. Hailey Roux scored double figures in all three wins. Grace Pillinini scored 14 in a Saturday win over Maria Carrillo.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Jenny Eggers, Sonoma Valley
This was like a horse coming done the stretch and taking it at the wire. Her 20 point-10 rebound performance in the 43-42 win over Tamalpais pushed her over the top. Before that she had a 13 point 12 rebound game in the win over Analy.
She is averaging 11.2 a game and has four double-doubles.
NORTH BAY LEAGUE
Technically it is a two team race, in reality it is only one. It is not if, it is when Cardinal Newman wraps up the league race for its third straight championship. The run in league is probably getting historic as they go for back to back undefeated league championships. Since the MaxPreps era began three teams have run the table, Montgomery in 2005 and Maria Carrillo in 2006 and 2008.
Remember there is a post season tournament and the second place team gets a first round home game. Santa Rosa, at 7-2, has a two game lead over Montgomery and Ukiah. Santa Rosa still has to play Cardinal Newman, Montgomery doesn’t.
Casa Grande is in fifth place one game behind Montgomery and Ukiah.
This is a three game week and a big one for Ukiah. On Monday they host Santa Rosa, on Wednesday they are at Cardinal Newman and wrap up the week Thursday with a home game with Casa Grande.
SONOMA COUNTY LEAGUE
At 7-1 Sonoma Valley has a half game lead over Analy and a full game on Healdsburg. Analy has already had the league bye and is 6-1. On Thursday, Analy is at Healdsburg.
Petaluma at 4-3 has a two game lead in the loss column over Piner for the final spot in the post season tournament. Petaluma is at Analy on Tuesday and then travels to Piner on Thursday.
NCL I
At 8-0 Kelseyville has a one game lead over Middletown. Those two teams don’t meet until February 12th at Middletown.
This is a big week for Cloverdale, who has road games at Kelseyville and Middletown on Tuesday and Thursday. Cloverdale goes into those games 6-2 in league play. Kelseyville won the first game with Cloverdale 55-54 in double overtime.
NCL II
Despite the non- league loss, Sonoma Academy is at 8-0 in league and still has a one game lead over Upper Lake.
St. Vincent de Paul is third at 5-2. Olivia Degraca scored 13 to lead the Mustangs to a 39-35 OT win over Rincon Valley Christian in a battle for third place.
On Friday, St. Vincent de Paul host Upper Lake and on Tuesday, February 9th they travel to Sonoma Academy.
Sonoma Academy goes to Upper Lake on February 12th.
Also noting that during the week, Upper Lake’s Natalie Karlsson went over the 1,000 point career mark. She is the fifth in Upper Lake history to reach that milestone. One of the people in attendance was Fawn Rave who is fourth on the list of all time Upper Lake scorers. Rave is a cousin of Karlsson.
NCL III
At 7-0 Mendocino has a one game lead over Round Valley. Mendocino hosts Round Valley on February 9th.
Anderson Valley is two games out. They travel to Mendocino and Round Valley this week.
My email address is jacpasquini@comcast.net