When the Oak Harbor girls basketball team hosted Snohomish last Friday night it was a battle of undefeated teams, one a league favorite, one a surprising upstart.
Score one for the upstarts.
The surprising Wildcats, off to their best start in years, overcame an 11-point first quarter deficit to knock off the defending league-champions 53-40. Oak Harbor outscored the Panthers 35-15 in the second half to earn their first victory over Snohomish in almost a decade.
With the win, the Cats (5-0 in league, 7-0 overall) handed the Panthers (3-1, 5-1) their first loss of the season and took over sole possession of first place in the WesCo North Division.
“It was an awesome victory,” said assistant coach Warren Quinn who filled in for head coach Dwight Lundstrom for a second straight game. “I thought before this season that this team had a real chance to do well.”
Snohomish jumped out to an early lead behind post-player Hali Thompson, who had six of her 12 points in the opening period. Oak Harbor’s nerves were apparent as they failed to capitalize on several easy chance.
“We started out slow, we were tight,” Quinn said. “We were down 19-8 after the first quarter but we missed shots that we wanted to take – layups, open jumpers. I think playing against Snohomish got to us.”
Trailing by 11 after the first quarter, the Wildcats could have panicked and folded but they didn’t. Sophomore guard Gretyl Pruss came in and provided a boost, tallying all seven of her points in the second. The Wildcats outscored Snohomish 10-6 in the period and trailed by just seven at halftime.
At the half, the team realized that they had weathered the Snohomish storm and were still in the contest. Quinn impressed upon his charges that the game was there for the taking.
“It was upbeat in the locker room at half, we knew we had a chance to win it,” he said. “Usually against Snohomish we’re down 20 at the half, being down seven we were in the game.”
The Cats took it to the Panthers beginning in the third. They were able to press and pressure Snohomish into numerous mistakes and they began to make the shots that they were missing in the first half. Freshman Heidi McNeill sparked the rally, scoring all eight of her points in the third period.
“Heidi hit the shots that she usually hits and she ignited us,” said Quinn about McNeill’s outburst. “Besides that, she was also playing great defense on their two post players (Hali) Thompson, and (Anne) Bailey.”
A McNeill layup with 2:43 left in the third gave the Cats their first lead of the game at 34-33, and the team took a one-point lead into the final quarter.
The fourth quarter was all Oak Harbor. The Wildcats continued the pressure, outscoring Snohomish 17-5 sealing their first win against Snohomish since Feb. 5, 1992. A 14-1 run in the middle of the period knocked the Panthers down for the count.
“We kept the pressure up, got steals off the press, and stepped up and hit shots,” said Quinn. “You could really see that they couldn’t believe we were doing this.”
Leading the charge in the final period were sophomore Kaylea Kingma and junior Shirley Spears. With the Panthers focussed on stopping shooting guard Marcy Manibusan, Kingma stepped in and filled the void. The 5-foot-10 sophomore led all scorers with a career-high 16 points, including seven in the fourth. She also added six rebounds. Spears finished the contest with 10 points and eight boards, many in the pivotal final period. Quinn praised both girls efforts.
“Kaylea’s got a little Ally McBeal frame, but she’s not afraid to get inside and do the dirty work,” he said. “And Shirley, she’s the glue to this team. When she comes to play no one can contain her.”
Quinn felt that once the Cats survived the Panthers first-quarter run they gained confidence and knew they had a chance to win the game, while the Panthers were shocked that Oak Harbor didn’t roll over.
“They’ve never seen Oak Harbor like this before, they’re a girls basketball machine,” he said. “I don’t think that they expected us to compete like this. They had a chance to knock us off in the first, but we hung around.”
Oak Harbor plays two non-conference games back-to-back this week. On Friday night they host Everett and then travel to Port Angeles the following day.
Oak Harbor 53, Snohomish 40
at Oak Harbor H.S.
Snohomish – 19 6 10 5 – 40
Oak Harbor – 8 10 18 17 – 53
Snohomish: Cornwell 2, Moore 4, Angell 7, Thompson 12, Bailey 13, Snowden 2. Oak Harbor: McNeill 8, White 2, Pruss 7, Hartman 7, Manibusan 3, Kingma 16, Spears 10. 3-point goals: Pruss 1, Kingma 2, Manibusan 1. JV: Snohomish defeated Oak Harbor. Records-Oak Harbor 5-0 in league, 7-0 overall. Snohomish 3-1, 5-1.
