“With 36 second left on the clock until half time, Oak Harbor’s Valerie Hartman lunged for the basketball and picked off a pass. Hartman then gave up the ball to Shirley Spears, who went hard to the basket for two points and drew the foul. At the line Spears missed the free throw but got her own rebound and scored again.The scores gave the Wildcats their first lead of the game and they would not relinquish it, as Oak Harbor took it to Mariner during the second half and ended up blowing out the Marauders, 84-66. “We were hitting from outside and we were able to fast break on them,” said Oak Harbor head coach Dwight Lundstrom. “We didn’t open it up like I thought we would until the very end.”The game didn’t start so well for the Cats, as Mariner came out blazing in the first quarter. The Marauders pounded the Cats during the first three minutes for an 11-2 lead.“I think we were just trying to have too much fun,” said Hartman, who led all scorers with 24 points. “I think we kind of took them for granted.” “She had a really big game and she hit from outside,” said Lundstrom about Hartman’s three three-pointers. “I told her earlier today that that was an important part of her game to bring along.”Marcy Manibusan was the Cats’ second highest scorer with 15 points, 12 of which came from beyond the arc. “Valerie just got me the ball and I just put it up,” said Manibusan. “They played a zone and that really helped a lot for shooting.” Rebounds kept Oak Harbor in the game early. At one point the Cats’ Jessica King was fouled after five offensive rebounds and six shots from under the basket on just one possession, as Oak Harbor repeatedly boxed out Mariner players. Despite that, the Cats still trailed the Marauders 18-12 after the first eight minutes of the game. “We came out a little sluggish,” said Lundstrom. “But once we got situated on the court we just etched away at it.”During the second quarter the Cats clawed their way back into game. The second score of the quarter showed that Oak Harbor meant business as Jamie Armstrong stole the ball and went coast-to-coast for an easy lay up. Hartman scored with only 1:16 left on the first half clock to tie the game at 30. “I just reacted to the ball,” said Hartman about her performance. “As a team we just stepped it up because we beat them last year and we had to keep that tradition going.” The entire second half belonged to the Cats as they started the third with a 15-4 run and never looked back. “I think that that is the way this team is going to play,” said Lundstrom. “We are going to go out and we are going to play hard and we are going to have to wear a team down before we really start jumping on them.” The Cats were outsized the entire game by the Marauder’s center, Terra Huffman, who was big under the basket and just pushed the Cats out of the way. “”We changed the rotation on our defense and then we were able to front her more,” said Lundstrom about how they handled the size of Huffman. “We just kind of tried to stay at home with her but sometimes she just kind of bulled her way through and there wasn’t a lot we could do there.”Since Oak Harbor players couldn’t go through Huffman, they went over and around her for rebounds. “We scrap for the rebounds and that is a good way to get them,” said Lundstrom. Oak Harbor played aggressive, lunging for the ball on defense and chasing down every ball that was in their vicinity. “We really thrive on our defensive pressure,” said Manibusan. “We got a lot of steals and that helped a lot as well. We realize that we are not as tall as other kids so we have to really hustle for the ball.”The height of Spears came in handy for the Cats down the stretch as she was able to reach higher for the ball than Mariner’s big center. “She was pretty big so we had to just throw our hands up and try to box her out,” said Spears. Oak Harbor will now go on the road for four games and return home to play Port Angeles on Dec. 30. Oak Harbor 84, Mariner 66 Mariner 18 17 10 21 — 66Oak Harbor 12 25 22 25 — 84Mariner: Bowler 14, Kerr 22, Desimone 18, Richardson 3, Burns 5, Moore 2, Huffman 2. Oak Harbor: Bull 1, Hartman 24, Brundidge 5, Manibusan 15, King 6, Bratt 1, Phillips 8, Armstrong 8, White 2, Spears 14. 3-point goals: Manibusen 4, Hartman 3, Bowler 3, Burns 1, Richardson 1, Kerr 1. JV-Oak Harbor def. Mariner. Records: Oak Harbor 2-0 in league, 3-2 overall. Mariner 0-2, 2-4. “