GBB 2010-12-29 and 30 - Santa Slam

As has been the tradition for the past few years, the Oak Harbor girls basketball team has hosted a holiday Santa Slam tournament at OHHS. This year the participants were Oak Harbor, Eatonville, Anacortes and North Thurston in the varsity division, Oak Harbor, N. Thurston and Anacortes in JV and Oak Harbor, S. Whidbey, Monroe and Anacortes in the Freshman bracket.

The JV bracket was turned into a round robin due to team numbers issues with Eatonville, so the OH JV team wound up playing 2 games on the first day of the tournament. They started against North Thurston and played the game close, but lost 31-24. Lia Pantoleon and Morgan Young led the team with 5 points each, Kaileen Burleson, Marissa Lewis and Kelsey Rankin 4 each and Erika Flores 2. The second game was against Anacortes and although the OH girls were down most of the game, they pulled out a 33-31 win. Morgan Young was hot in that game, scoring a team-high 13 points. Rayan Russell hit for 4, Natalie Fiallos, Flores and Pantoleon 3 each, Burleson, Lewis and exchange student Shoko Jamaguchi 2 each.

South Whidbey was the first opponent for the freshman team, and they beat them soundly, 29-16. Sorry, but individual scores aren't available. In the championship game against Monroe, the frosh girls struggled against a very good Bearcat team. Our girls found themselves down 18-6 at the end of the 1st period and it didn't get any better. Jamie Estrella finished with 8 points, Cassidy Gurich and Kaitlyn Haley 3 each, Sam Hawkins, Olivia Hunt, Melanie Callaway and KC Winfield 2 each. The freshman team finished in 2nd place in the tournament.

Wednesday the Wildcat varsity squad faced Eatonville. The game was close for the first 3 quarters, with the 3rd ending in a 40-40 tie, but in the 4th, Eatonville outscored the Wildcats 18-9 to win 58-49 and advance to the winner's bracket. Oak Harbor had 3 players in double figures in that first game. Clarissa Abadesco scored 19 points, Emilie Renninger 13 and Janelle Yoshimoto 10. Addy Royal added 4, Dominique Jackson 2 and Annie Leete 1.

Still searching for their first win of the season, the Wildcats took on North Thurston on Thursday. Things didn't start well for our girls as NT led 12-7 at the first buzzer and increased their lead to 20-12 early in the 2nd period. Oak Harbor then started to chip away at the Ram lead, and with 1:21 to go in the half, Ciera Wiser hit a pair of free throws to tie the game at 23, then just 9 seconds later, an Annie Leete jumper gave OH a 25-23 lead. North Thurston would score once more before the horn as the teams went to the locker room tied at 25. The early part of the 3rd period went back and forth, but 8 points by Royal put the Wildcats ahead 38-32 at the end of the 3rd. North Thurston closed the gap and the last minute of the game was a nail biter with the team separated by just a point. In the end, though, the Oak Harbor girls did what they needed to do and got the 51-49 victory. Scoring in the game was spread evenly, with 8 girls getting points. Yoshi was at the top of the leaderboard with 10 points, Royal scored 9, DJ 8, Leete 7, Tatiana Cumming 5 and 4 each by Abadesco, Renninger and Ciera Wiser.

Next for the girls are home games Jan 5th against Meadowdale and Jan 7th vs Shorewood.

Day 1 photos are posted HERE. These include some off-court photos.

Day 2 photos are posted HERE. Group and individual images of the freshman and varsity girls are included.

Day 1 video clips are HERE. Highlights from the Freshman and Varsity games.

Day 2 video clips are HERE. Varsity highlights only.