It might have been a little bit closer than expected, but the Oak Harbor girls basketball team picked up a 55-43 victory over the Stanwood Spartans on Wednesday night to clinch their first league title since 1984-85.

Leading the charge for the Cats was senior shooting guard Marcy Manibusan who collected 18 points, hitting six three-pointers on the evening. Freshman Heidi McNeill added 16 points.

The Cats jumped out to a 17-8 first-quarter lead and never looked back. Stanwood, led by Zoe Urness’ 13 points, stayed even for the rest of the contest but couldn’t dig into the Wildcats’ advantage.

With the victory, Oak Harbor finished the regular season 14-2 in league play and 17-3 overall and will head into the Northwest District Tournament as the No. 1 seed from the North Division. Snohomish (12-3, 15-4), the Cats’ nearest competitior, is a game and a half back with one game still to play.

District play gets under way on Wednesday as the top four teams from the Wesco North meet the top four from the Wesco South. The first-round games will be played on the home court of the higher seed. Games after the first round will be played at both Cascade and Marysville-Pilchuck.

Oak Harbor will host the Wesco South Division’s No. 4 team, the Shorewood Thunderbirds (9-8 in league, 9-10 overall) in the first round of the double-elimination tournament. Snohomish, Cascade, and Lake Stevens join Oak Harbor from the North Division, while Kamiak, Jackson, Shorecrest and Shorewood will represent the South.

The top three teams will move on to the 4A State Championships at the Tacoma Dome beginning March 6.

Oak Harbor 55, Stanwood 43

At Stanwood H.S.

Oak Harbor – 17 13 15 10 – 55

Stanwood – 8 12 15 8 – 43

Oak Harbor: McNeill 16, White 2, Pruss 2, Hartman 7, Manibusan 18, Kingma 2, Spears 7, Bratt 1. Stanwood: Boehme 2, My. Beauchamp 4, Meg. Beauchamp 6, Palmer 9, Buckholz 5, C. Urness 2, Z. Urness 13, O’Conner 2. 3-point goals: Buckholz 1, Meg. Beauchamp 1, Manibusan 6. JV: Oak Harbor def. Stanwood. Records: Oak Harbor 14-2 in league, 17-3 overall. Stanwood 4-11,4-15.

Cats host playoff

The Oak Harbor girls will host Shorewood in the first round of the Northwest District tournament on Wednesday, Feb. 20. Game time is at 7:30, and ticket prices are $6 for adults and students without ASB cards, $4 for seniors and students with ASB cards.