Thanks to Stanwood’s upset of Snohomish Monday night, the playoff picture for the Oak Harbor High School girls basketball team has become much clearer.

With Snohomish (6-9, 7-12) eliminated, that leaves Oak Harbor and Arlington, who both sport 8-7 and 11-8 records, battling it out for fourth and fifth in the Wesco North standings heading into Wednesday’s (Feb. 10) final regular season game.

Oak Harbor hosts Monroe (12-3, 15-4) at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday while Arlington travels to Snohomish.

The Wildcats hold the tie-breaker over the Eagles so if both teams win, both lose or Oak Harbor wins and Arlington loses, the Wildcats will finish fourth. That would send Oak Harbor directly to the eight-team double-elimination district tournament and a first-round game at the Wesco South champion, Edmonds-Woodway, Wednesday, Feb. 17.

Should Arlington win and Oak Harbor lose, the Wildcats would drop to fifth and have to play at Shorewood (5-12, 6-13), the South’s No. 4 team, Friday, Feb. 12, in a loser-out game. The winner of that game will move on to district and play at the North champion (either Monroe or Marysville-Pilchuck) Feb. 12.

If Monroe beats Oak Harbor tonight, it will tie Marysville-Pilchuck (13-3, 15-5) for the North title and would get the North No. 1 seed because it defeated M-P in both meetings this year.

The Wildcat upset Monroe on the Bearcats’ court 52-47 Jan. 13.

Oak Harbor had a one-game edge over Arlington until it lost at home to first-place Marysville-Pilchuck 53-36 Monday.

Jessica Denmon didn’t hit a field goal until 2:48 left in the game and Nicole Mowbray scored only seven points. For those who follow the Wildcats, they know what that means — trouble.

Oak Harbor averages 46 points per game. Most of those 46 come from Denmon, Wesco’s leading scorer at 19.5 points per game, and Mowbray, who averages 13.5 per game.

When they don’t score, Oak Harbor struggles.

The Tomahawks employed an aggressive, switching man-to-man defense that frustrated the Wildcats.

Denmon hit some free throws but missed her first 15 shots from the field. She finally connected late in the game and moments later she added a 3-pointer. That was it as she left the game when coach Brett McLeod emptied the bench once the game was out of reach.

As a team, Oak Harbor shot just 24 percent (11-45) while Marysville-Pilchuck shot 38 percent (19-49). The Tomahawks hit a staggering 64 percent (9-14) from beyond the 3-point line. Morgan Martinis nailed five of those 3s; Becca Lentz hit the other four.

McLeod said, “We knew that Martinis could shoot; we weren’t expecting it from No. 10 (Lentz).”

When Janelle Yoshimoto scored a minute into the second quarter, Oak Harbor led 13-12. From then it was all Marysville. The Tommies went on a 12-0 run and never looked back.

While Martinis and Lentz were hurting Oak Harbor from the outside, 6-foot sophomore Hannon Watson controlled the paint in the second half. She scored all of her nine points in the final two quarters, most on put backs, as Maryville gathered 17 offensive rebounds.

Denmon finished with 14 points, thanks to hitting nine of 14 free throws. Mowbray’s seven points were followed by Clarissa Abadesco with six, Yoshimoto four, Adrianna Royal two and Shantae Young one.

McLeod said, “We had match-up problems.” When the ‘Cats extended to defend Martinis and Lentz, that left the key clear for Watson.

McLeod added, “It was one of those nights.”