Girls Basketball @ Monroe - Feb 10, 2009

The last two girls basketball games were both on the road, with Tuesday's game at Monroe HS.

It was a rough outing for the freshman girls as they were outscored 39-12. The first half did them in as they allowed 11 in the 1st and 12 in the 2nd while scoring a single free throw in each of the first two periods. The girls improved somewhat in the 2nd half, scoring 4 points in the 3rd and 6 in the 4th, but it wasn't nearly enough. Kristen Winston was the leading scorer with 4, Kaileen Burleson had 3, Heavenly Cooper and Rayan Russell 2 each, and JD scored only 1.

The JV girls were out to revenge a 49-42 loss to the Bearcats earlier in the season, and avenge it they did. In the 1st period the two teams played even, scoring 9 points each, but the 'Cats opened it up in the 2nd as Yoshi's 5 and Shantae's 6 points put OH ahead 22-16 at the half, and the girls came out on fire in the 3rd period, adding another 5 points to their lead. A strong defense held Monroe to single-digit scoring in each period as Oak Harbor won the game 41-27. Yoshi won the scoring battle with 19 while Shantae added 14. Addy, Molly, Kate and Mariah each scored 2 points.

Things weren't looking good for the Wildcats for most of the 1st half of the varsity game. The 1st quarter ended in an 11-all tie, but Monroe got some offense going along with a strong defense, and with under 2 minutes to go until halftime, Monroe led 26-13. Jen Jansen hit a couple of late baskets and the 'Cats scored 6 in the final two minutes to cut the Monroe lead to 7 at halftime. Halfway through the 3rd, Monroe still held a 37-31 lead, and with two and a half minutes to go led 40-33. At that point the OH defense came back to life and prevented Monroe from scoring for the remainder of the 3rd and allowed the offense to score 7 to tie the game 40-40 going into the final 8 minutes. Nikki Mowbray and Jessica Denmon combined for 11 4th-period points as OH battled their way to a 56-49 win and a guaranteed playoff spot. Jen Jansen scored a personal best 21 points in the Wildcat win, Denmon scored 16, Mowbray 10, Henricksen 3, and Abadesco, Fisken and Tubo 2 each.

Photos are posted HERE, mostly of JV and Freshman action.