Last year if Amanda Watts was hugging teammates and smiling after a game it meant good things for the Oak Harbor girls basketball team.
Watts’ post-game hugs and smiles didn’t have the same feel for the Wildcats on Wednesday night, however, as the senior transfer, and her new team Burlington-Edison, came into the Oak Harbor gym and nabbed a 43-41 victory.
“I’ve known some of these girls since kindergarten so it’s definitely weird,” Watts said after the game. “I was trying to think of it as just practice, but it’s not, there was a whole lot more on the line this time.”
Although the Wildcats fell to 0-3 on the season, they nearly pulled off an impressive comeback, and almost did it at the expense of their former teammate.
Down 43-39 with 16 seconds left in the game, Danica Russell got things started for OHHS. The freshman guard stole an inbound pass at half-court, then laid the ball up and in with 13 seconds to go.
Trailing 43-41, Oak Harbor was forced to foul to stop the clock.
Watts, who scored four points on the night, was put at the free-throw line for a one-and-one attempt with 11 seconds remaining. She missed her shot, but recovered her own rebound with eight seconds left. Fouled and put at the line again, Watts missed another free throw, opening the door yet again for the Wildcats.
After a scramble, Russell recovered the rebound with 4.1 seconds on the clock and Oak Harbor called its final timeout.
The Wildcats drew up a near perfect inbound play, but were unable to convert as Krystal Rousselle’s three-quarter court pass sailed just out of the reach of 6-foot-3 Heidi McNeill.
“We were trying to get it to Heidi and then shuffle it over to someone,” OHHS head coach Brett McLeod said. “If we just catch the ball, I think we have a lay-in.”
Instead, Burlington recovered the loose ball and held on as time expired.
“We battled, we played hard, that’s all we can ask,” McLeod said.
The Wildcats jumped out to a 6-0 lead to start the game, behind the post play of McNeill. Burlington, however, outscored OHHS 10-2 over the final five minutes of the first for a 10-8 lead.
After surrendering the lead at the end of the first quarter, the Wildcats were never able to retake an advantage. Oak Harbor tied the game on six separate occasions, but couldn’t get over the hump.
The last tie came at the 3:30 mark of the fourth quarter, when Russell hit a three-point shot from the top of the key that knotted the game, 38-38. Just 30 seconds later Burlington had an answer. Guard Stephanie Pratt, who led the Tigers with 15 points, nailed a long three pointer just as the shot clock expired. Burlington’s Ada Cohen hit a similar buzzer beater on the Tigers’ next possession.
“They had really been hitting those the whole game and then they go an burry those,” McLeod said.
McNeill led Oak Harbor in scoring with 21 points, followed by Russell and Rouselle with seven points apiece.
Oak Harbor looked for its first victory last night at WesCo North opponent Cascade (1-1).
“We’re just talking 0-0 right now,” McLeod said. “We start league on Friday and we go from there.”
Burlington 10 14 10 9 — 43
Oak Harbor 8 13 9 11 — 41
Scoring — Oak Harbor: McNeill 21, Russell 7, Rousselle 7, Brundidge 3, M. Smollack 3. Burlington: Pratt 15, Sharrick 6, Holt 6, Cohen 5, Watts 4, Dotlich 2, Warner 2, Thomas 2, Saunders 1. Records: Oak Harbor 0-3, Burlington 3-0.
