A slow start to open the game and a lethargic beginning of the second half was all the Jackson Timberwolves needed to defeat Oak Harbor 57-43 in Wednesday’s opening round of the WesCo Class 4A District Basketball Tournament.
Jackson (14-3, 17-5), the number one seed from the WesCo South, started the game with a 12-0 run and the Wildcats were never able to recover.
“I thought the game came down to the first two minutes of each half,” coach Brett McLeod said. “They outscored us 12-0 to start the game and then 6-0 to start the second half. That’s 18 points we gave up and we ended up losing by 14.”
Janay Baeyen finally got Oak Harbor on the board as she nailed a three-point basket at the 5:26 mark. Mietra Smollack followed with a hoop as the Wildcats tried to make a comeback.
Oak Harbor hung tough and outscored the Timberwolves 7-6 over the final five minutes to trail 18-7 at the end of the first period of play.
“We played well, but we didn’t win the whole game,” McLeod said. “All 32 minutes matter. Jackson went to state last year and they had everybody coming back. They know what the intensity level is and it took us a minute to figure it out, It was 12-0 before we finally woke up.”
The Wildcats got things figured out in the second period and played Jackson evenly, with each team putting eight points on the board.
At halftime, Oak Harbor was still right in the thick of things down 26-15.
The Timberwolves opened the third period of play with a 6-0 run upping the lead to 31-15 and the Wildcats were in a catch up mode for the remainder of the game.
Jackson’s defense shut down Jessica Denmon and Smollack, Oak Harbor’s two leading scorers, holding Smollack to just three points before the junior wing fouled out of the game with 1:27 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Denmon also scored only three points, those coming on a bomb from beyond the arc with 4:42 left in the game.
However, junior guard Jessica Denmon stepped up scoring 13 points and sophomore Jennifer Jansen hit for 10 coming off the bench.
“Tonight we did our best and did what we could,” Russell said. “We have a few more games to win if we want to make it to the state tournament. Right now, we have to focus on the next game and then the next and then the next, and take them one at a time.”
Jackson was led by senior Brittany Eskridge with a game-high 14 points.
“Jackson has a good team with a lot of talent,” McLeod said. “Eskridge is going to OSU and they have another girl going to the University of Washington, so they have two players who have signed with Pac-10 schools.”
Oak Harbor now drops into the losers bracket and faces Mountlake Terrace, who lost 59-51 to Lake Stevens on Wednesday, in a 2 p.m. loser-out game today at Marysville-Pilchuck.
Jackson 57, Oak Harbor 43
Oak Harbor 7 8 15 13 — 43
Jackson 18 8 20 11 — 57
Oak Harbor (43) — Russell 4 5-6 13, Jansen 5 0-0 10, Thiel 0 2-4 2, Denmon 1 0-2 3, Smollack 1 1-2 3, Baeyen 3 2-2 9, Hendricksen 0 1-2 1, Smith 1 0-0 2, Chong 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 11-18 43.
Jackson (57) — Eskridge 6 2-2 14, Addington 4 4-8 12, Kingma 4 1-2 11, Bruns 3 0-0 7, Todd 2 0-0 5, Valera 1 0-0 2, Harkness 0 0-0 0, O’Neil 0 0-0 0, Feeney 1 0-0 2, Sam 2 0-0 4. Totals 23 7-10 57.
Three-point goals — Oak Harbor 2 (Baeyen, Denmon); Jackson 4 (Kingma 2, Bruns, Todd).
