Wildcats battle back to dump Bruins / Girls basketball

By Jim Waller • December 22, 2016 1:30 am

Near misses began to find their target and the Oak Harbor High School girls basketball team overcame a cool first period to defeat visiting Cascade of Everett 36-30 Tuesday, Dec. 20, in a non-league game.

For the second game in a row, only three Wildcats scored, but this time the trio — Bryn Langrock, Rashanna Graham and Julie Jansen — were able to muster enough points to put away the Bruins (4-5).

A single three-ball by Langrock were the only points Oak Harbor registered in the opening period, and the Wildcats trailed 6-3.

In that quarter, three other long balls by Langrock just rimmed out, and her teammates found similar bad luck on several shots, as Oak Harbor fought to find its range.

Things changed in the second quarter.

Down 8-3, Oak Harbor went on an 8-0 run, all scored by Langrock, including two from beyond the arc. After Cascade recovered to lead 14-13, Langrock drilled another three just before the half, and Oak Harbor led 16-14 at the break.

In the second half, the Bruins worked hard to deny Langrock the ball, since the senior sharpshooter scored 14 of Oak Harbor’s 16 first-half points.

That allowed point guard Graham to attack the hoop or get the ball inside to post Jansen, and the pair picked up the scoring slack.

Oak Harbor finished the third quarter on a 7-0 run to go into the fourth with a 25-19 lead.

Cascade got to within three, 33-30, with 30 seconds remaining, but Graham hit three consecutive free throws to seal the win.

Langrock finished with 19 points, Graham 11 and Jansen 6.

“It was nice to see the girls execute at the end and pull out the win,” coach Jon Atkins said.

Oak Harbor (0-2, 3-5) plays a non-league game at South Whidbey (4-3) at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 29, followed by a home Wesco match with Shorewood (1-1, 7-1) at 7:15 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 4.