The Oak Harbor High School girls basketball team lost 68-53 to visiting Stanwood Wednesday, Jan. 27, but no one could question its mental toughness.
Second-place Stanwood (5-1, 11-4) thrashed the fifth-place Wildcats 77-31 several weeks ago. Wednesday, however, was a different story.
Each time it looked like the Spartans would pull away, Oak Harbor responded to get back into the game.
Stanwood scooted to an 8-0 lead behind a suffocating full-court press. Instead of Oak Harbor collapsing with a “here-we-go-again” attitude, the Wildcats fought back and trailed by only three, 13-10 at the quarter.
Stanwood opened the second quarter with eight straight points to lead 21-10. Again, Oak Harbor bounced back, doing much of its offensive damage at the foul line.
The Wildcats hit eight free throws in the second quarter; two by Julie Jansen with less than a second left in the half gave Oak Harbor a 26-25 lead.
Bryn Langrock helped fuel the rally with two three-pointers.
The Spartans’ aggressive defense, which flustered Oak Harbor early, landed the Spartans in foul trouble. One starter (Haley Strowbridge) finished the half with three fouls; three others had two.
Oak Harbor carried the momentum into the third quarter, staring the second half on a 6-1 run thanks to hoops by Rashanna Graham, AnnaBelle Whitefoot and Langrock.
Langrock’s bucket came from an off-balance left-hander launched from long range just before the shot clocker expired.
Strowbridge, the Spartans’ star, started the second half on the bench because of her three fouls. Her re-entery
sparked the Spartans. She scored all of Stanwood’s points in a 10-2 run, helping Stanwood lead 40-38 going into the final period.
Stanwood’s starting post, Kaitlin Larson, had one point entering the fourth quarter, then started the period with a pair of three-pointers. Moments later she dropped in a third.
From that point, the margin stayed about 10 the remainder of the game.
Oak Harbor was able to attack the rim but couldn’t get shots to fall.
“The girls really played hard,” coach Jon Atkins said. “Stanwood hit those deep threes in the fourth and we stopped being able to put it in.”
“We kept fighting,” he added. “I’m impressed.”
Langrock scored 14 points, Graham 10, Jensen nine, Whitefoot eight, Janae Payne eight and Deja Bunch four.
Strowbridge, who hit four three-pointers, finished with 20 points, 15 in the second half.
Oak Harbor (1-5, 5-11) travels to first-place and third-ranked Arlington (6-0, 16-0) at 7:15 p.m. Friday, Jan. 29.
(Left, Oak Harbor coach John Atkins discusses strategy with Matti Miesle as assistant coach Tracey Foels and Julie Jansen look on. Below, Deja Bunch leads a Wildcat fastbreak. Photos by John Fisken.)
