Glacier Peak used a big fourth quarter to avoid an upset by the Oak Harbor High School girls basketball team, defeating the host Wildcats 53-39 Wednesday, Jan. 16.

The Grizzlies, one of Wesco’s top teams with an 11-4 record (6-2 in league), out scored Oak Harbor 21-6 in the final period to salvage the win.

The Wildcats (2-6, 5-10) scored the final six points of the third quarter to take their only lead, 33-32. But things went awry in the fourth as Oak Harbor missed all 12 of its field goal attempts and committed eight turnovers.

Wildcat coach Trisha Wieber said, “We played a great three quarters of basketball and ran out of steam early in the fourth.”

The Grizzlies, who entered the fourth having hit only three of 15 three-point shots, drilled four to help sprint to a 50-36 lead.  Sawyer Manning, who hadn’t scored in the first three quarters, connected on three treys during the run.

In all, Glacier Peak was 6-for-11 from the field in the fourth period and tallied only one turnover.

Early it looked like the game would play to the script when the heavily favored Grizzlies ran to a 13-4 lead and then led 13-8 at the quarter.

GP upped the lead to 11, 25-14, before Oak Harbor began chipping away. Kelsey Rankin sandwiched a pair of baskets around seven points by Jalani Bobo, and the Wildcats evened the count.

The Grizzlies ended the Wildcat run just before half and led 27-25 at the break.

Glacier Peak went ahead 32-27 midway through the third period, then baskets by Annie Leete, Rankin and Ciera Wiser gave Oak Harbor the lead 33-32 heading into the fateful fourth period.

Both teams had balanced scoring. Glacier Peak had four players score between eight and 11 points, and Oak Harbor four between eight and 10, but the Grizzlies had a larger supporting cast.

Bobo and Rankin had 10 each for the Wildcats, Leete finished with nine and Wiser eight. Deja Bunch recorded the other two. Wiser added eight rebounds and Natalie Fiallos seven.

Oak Harbor shot 27 percent (13-for-48) from the field, including missing all seven three-point tries. Glacier Peak shot 38 percent (21-for-55) and was 7-for-19 (37 percent) in three-pointers.

The Wildcats out rebounded GP 33-29 and had more turnovers, 28 to 21.

Oak Harbor hosts the conference’s top 3A team, seventh-ranked Stanwood (8-0, 12-2), at 7:15 p.m. Friday, Jan. 18.