A stingy defense, strong offensive rebounding and success at the foul line helped the Oak Harbor High School girls basketball team come from behind to defeat Bellingham 34-32 Monday, Dec. 29, in the Bulldog Holiday Classic at Mount Vernon High School.

The win broke a 28-game losing streak for Oak Harbor and gave second-year coach Jonathan Atkins his first win. It also put the Wildcats in the championship game of the Classic. Oak Harbor (1-8) meets host Mount Vernon (3-5) at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 30, for the title.

The Bulldogs defeated Marysville-Pilchuck 46-37 Monday.

Bellingham led 10-7 after the first quarter, then Oak Harbor knotted the game at 16 at halftime.

The Red Raiders took off in the third quarter, building the game’s biggest lead, 28-21. From there, the Wildcats began chipping away, cutting the gap to 28-25 heading into the final period.

“The last quarter was really about defense and offensive rebounding, even with our shots not going down,” Atkins said. “The biggest difference in the fourth was that we played defense without fouling.”

AnnaBelle Whitefoot, Janae Payne and Julie Jansen dominated the offensive boards in the fourth quarter, Atkins said, which led to free throws that his club knocked down.

In all, Oak Harbor collected 20 offensive rebounds, eight from Whitefoot and five from Jansen. Whitefoot finished with 11 and Jansen seven total rebounds.

Whitefoot also led the Wildcats’ balanced scoring attack with eight points. Jansen and Jinai Guzman had seven each, Bryn Langrock six, Deja Bunch four and Payne two.

Guzman added three assists; Whitefoot had two steals.

The Wildcats committed only eight turnovers.