Behind a season-high offensive output, the Oak Harbor High School girl basketball team won 68-52 at Marysville-Pilchuck Friday, Feb. 6, to put the Wildcats into a battle for the final Wesco North playoff spot.

The win was the Wildcats’ second straight, lifting their conference record to 3-6 and pushing them into a tie with Marysville-Getchell for fourth place with one game remaining.

Oak Harbor (3-6, 4-15) hosts Everett (5-4, 9-10) at 7:15 p.m. Monday, Feb. 9, in the regular-season finale. Marysville Getchell (3-6, 9-10) has to face first-place Arlington (9-0, 17-2).

If Oak Harbor and Getchell end in a tie, the teams will meet at MG Tuesday to break the knot.

The fourth-place teams from the 3A North and South will face off Thursday to determine the final Wesco team in the district tournament.

Oak Harbor’s offense broke out of a season-long slumber at M-P. The Wildcats scored a previous best 46 points in a win over Getchell Wednesday, then exploded for 68 in dumping the Tomahawks (0-9, 0-19).

A combination of sharp shooting, good execution and forcing Marysville-Pilchuck turnovers led to the offensive upswing, according to coach Jon Atkins.

“We really focused on getting the ball in the paint,” Atkins said. “Our post players had a huge game for us; any time we needed a basket, we went inside.”

Posts Hayley Lundstrom and Julie Jansen responded by scoring 14 and 13 points respectively.

“We also committed to attacking the rim,” he said. “We had a season high for free throws.”

The Wildcats hit 21 of 26 foul shots (77 percent), with Rashanna Graham connecting on 10 of 11 and AnnaBelle Whitefoot draining six of six.

“We had more girls playing with a scoring mentality; we had four girls in double figures and one with eight.

“Before the game, I challenged the girls to score 50-plus, and they responded with scoring 12 points in the first two minutes of the game.”

That quick start helped the Wildcats lead 14-11 at the quarter. They pushed the lead to 33-25 at halftime and 50-38 after three quarters.

The Tomahawks kept themselves in the game by sinking nine three-balls.

Graham finished with 14 points, Bryn Langrock 11, Whitefoot eight and Lydia Peplinski, Janae Payne, Deja Bunch and Montana Koslowski two each.

Graham also had three assists and two steals; Payne added four rebounds and three steals.

Amanda Kalab led the Tommies with 13 points.