Oak Harbor battled toe-to-toe with last year’s state runner up, Snohomish, through the entire first quarter of Friday night’s Western Conference North game.

Then the Panthers kicked it into another gear.

“It’s hard for us unless we develop that (intensity) at practice,” OHHS head coach Brett McLeod said. “It’s hard for us to be able to simulate the kind of defense and quickness they have.”

In what seemed like a flash, Snohomish turned its slim 11-9 first-quarter advantage into a 74-32 rout.

“They just have a lot of weapons,” McLeod said. “Once they get going it’s hard to stop them.”

There’s no question the Panthers got it going in the second quarter.

Over the first three minutes they were a perfect 4-for-4 from behind the three-point line. Senior guard Daesha Henderson was a key component in that run, knocking down two from behind the arc in less than a minute. Freshman Karley Lampman added three more three pointers in the quarter, helping the Panthers to a comfortable 39-13 halftime lead.

The Wildcats stayed in a man-to-man defense in an attempt to prevent the long shots, but it didn’t matter.

“You can’t go zone because they can shoot so well, then you’re still in their face and they still hit shots,” McLeod said. “What else can you do?”

On the flip side, Oak Harbor’s offense could get nothing going against the aggressive Panther defense. OHHS shot a combined 2-for-18 from the field in the second and third quarters, turning the ball over 11 times.

“We just weren’t executing,” McLeod said. “They took us out of our offense, they played just such good defense.”

By the end of the third Snohomish completed its second straight quarter without a turnover and held a 59-15 lead.

Oak Harbor managed to outscore the Panther bench in the fourth, 17-15, leaving McLeod with something positive to build on.

“Hopefully we can just develop some character from this and get better,” he said.

The Wildcats were led in scoring by sophomore Mietra Smollack with 10 points. She had two three pointers in the fourth quarter.

Snohomish had 10 players score, led by sophomore post Jessica Yates with 15.

OHHS fell to 4-6 in the WesCo North and 5-9 overall with its defeat. The Wildcats are currently in fifth place, two games in the loss column behind Marysville-Pilchuck for the fourth and final district playoff berth.

McLeod knows it won’t be an easy task to catch the Tomahawks, but it’s certainly not impossible — especially with Marsyville on the schedule for the final regular season game, Feb. 16.

“We are going to have to beat a really good team along the way,” he said.

The Wildcats will get a chance to beat one of those good teams at 7:30 p.m., tonight Feb. 1 when they host third-place Monroe (8-3, 12-3).

Snohomish 11 28 20 15 — 74

Oak Harbor 9 4 2 17 — 32

Scoring: Oak Harbor – Smollack 10, Brundidge 7, Rousselle 5, Thiel 5, Baeyen 2, Russell 2, Jenkins 1. Snohomish – Yates 15, Henderson 13, Lampman 12, Benson 9, Schmitt 8, Artim 7, Marshall 3, Nicholson 3, Heard 2, Whelen 2.