AAU Girls Basketball - SWISH League

Both of the Oak Harbor Girls Basketball teams in the Skagit Whatcom Island Snohomish Hoops (SWISH) League were in action Saturday, November 29th at Mt. Baker Middle School in Mt. Vernon.
First up was the 5th/6th grade team. The girls are coached by Keely Smollack, an OHHS graduate and former OHHS basketball player. The team has struggled this season, and on Saturday faced the Regulators team from Bellingham. The Wildcats came into the game with a 0-6 record while the Regulators were 4-3.
The records didn’t mean much to the Wildcats, as they sprinted out to an early lead, and at the end of the 1st period were ahead 10-2. Much of the credit for the lead should go to the Wildcat post players. They were getting shots off that were going in, and were exceptional on rebounding – both offensive and defensive. By halftime the score was 14-4 for the Wildcats.
In the 2nd half, the Regulators mounted a comeback, getting some points on the board and keeping a lot of the Wildcat offense in check. At the end of 3 it was OH 18 Regulators 14. In the 4th the Wildcats scored once and the Regulators twice once to close the gap to 2 points with several minutes left in the game. The Regulators had several chances to score and tie the game, but the Wildcat defense held them off, and the Wildcats won their first game of the season 22-18.
The other Oak Harbor team is made up of 8th grade girls and is having a good year. The 4-1 Wildcats were matched up against the 2-4 Snohomish Rock. The first few minutes were fast, with the Wildcats scoring twice early, but that was all the Oak Harbor scoring for the first period, which ended in a 4-4 tie. The 2nd period was not much better; with the Wildcats scoring only a single free throw with just a few seconds left in the half, but only allowed a single field goal by Snohomish. It was a low-scoring 6-5 Snohomish lead at the half.
The Wildcats opened up in the 3rd period, getting the offense rolling. The first score of the 2nd half was by Ciera Wiser, who also scored the last field goal of the game, then Emilie Renninger scored to put the ‘Cats ahead for good 9-8. A pair of field goals by Melanie Martin and another by Renninger pushed the lead to 15-9. The Rock was able to score one more basket, but the Wildcats won going away, 20-11.

20 photos from the 5th/6th grade game are posted HERE.

17 images from the 8th grade team are HERE.