Rancho Cotate girls stay unbeaten in league basketball

The Rancho Cotate High School girls basketball team used its up-tempo style of play to win a third straight league game, defeating Healdsburg High 51-35 Wednesday night in Healdsburg.

“Our expectation was to come out here and play hard and we felt if we came out and play our game, we felt we could win this game,” Rancho coach Mario Newton said.

“We missed a lot of shots and there’s a lot of things we could’ve done better, but ultimately, I’m satisfied with the outcome,” added Newton, who is in his sixth season at the helm of the Rancho girls program.

Before Wednesday’s win, the Cougars (13-4 overall, North Bay League-Redwood Division) had already easily taken out two other NBL-Redwood foes - outscoring Piner and Elsie Allen a combined 160-67 to open their league season.

A successful nonleague slate for Rancho saw the Cougars outscore their opponents by nearly 200 points combined. And despite losing their last two nonleague games, they find themselves sitting at the top of the NBL-Redwood Division, primed for a bounceback season following last year’s disappointing ?13-15 record.

Healdsburg (10-7 overall, 1-2 NBL-Redwood) came into the game undermanned, with only nine players suited and ready to play. Rancho, meanwhile, had a deep bench to rely on.

“We play pretty aggressively, and we know their point guard is one of their better players and their post players ... I have 14 girls so I can go pretty deep into my bench, so I rotate pretty well, and we did plan on playing a full-court press for the most part,” Newton said.

The game really came together for Rancho in the fourth, as the Cougars took over behind their relentless defense and fast-paced offense for a 13-3 run to open the quarter.

With less than three minutes left, Rancho led 49-31, and with the game in hand the Cougars cruised to the finish.

Both teams found most of their success on offense in the post to start the game.

Healdsburg could have taken over early on if it wasn’t for the excellent defense by the Cougars’ senior center, Kierra Johnson, who stifled the Greyhounds from the first buzzer.

“Kierra Johnson brings a lot to our team because she’s a post player, but she can also shoot from the outside,” Newton said. “She’s fast, she runs the lanes really well and obviously you can see she’s a great defender - she can block some shots and deters players from coming down.”

The first quarter came down to rebounding, as Rancho snagged plenty of offensive rebounds - giving them multiple tries on each possession. At the end of the first quarter, the Cougars led 10-8.

The game stayed heavily contested in the second quarter - both teams not only continued to snag offensive rebounds, but Rancho’s full-court press defense created some turnovers, giving the Cougars even more chances to score.

Healdsburg’s defense played strong and its offense converted some ?free throws to try to keep the game close.

But Rancho went on a short run and converted several clutch baskets down the stretch to take a 25-17 lead at halftime.

The ’Hounds came out strong in the second half with a 6-2 run. But the Cougars kept driving to the basket, feeding the post, and a late 3 from freshmen guard Keyonee Neal put Rancho back up by nine points to lead 36-27 at the end of three quarters.

In the end, Healdsburg was not able to keep up with the explosive Rancho offense.

Neal led Rancho scoring with 14 points. Kim Rodgers led Healdsburg with 10 points.

The Cougars will stay on the road to face Montgomery High School at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Santa Rosa.

Healdsburg will continue its homestand by taking on El Molino High School on Friday, also at 7:30 p.m.