It is always a treat for the fans when a team wins the first home game of the season — especially when the score is of the blowout variety.

Oak Harbor High School basketball fans went home in a joyous mood Wednesday evening as the Wildcats completely dominated Lynnwood from the opening tip and rolled to a 71-19 win over the Royals in a non-league game.

The victory boosts the Wildcats preseason record to 2-0.

Coach Brett McLeod’s chargers employed a pressure, in-your-face defense that baffled Lynnwood, and the Royals managed to score just four points in the second half of action.

“Our pressure caused them to turn the ball over and we were able to take advantage of that,” McLeod said. “We clicked a lot better in this game than we did last week and we executed the game plan really well.”

The Wildcats came out on fire and went on a 12-0 run to open the game, knocking down three 3-point baskets in the first eight minutes, to take a 21-7 lead.

Jessica Denmon scored seven of her game-high 21 points in the first quarter and Janay Baeyen scored five.

“Our team had really good chemistry and it helped us win tonight,” Denmon said.

Baeyen finished the game with 14 points and Mietra Smollack was the third player in double figures for Oak Harbor with 10 points.

“We played such good defense it always led to our offense,” Baeyen said. “We really meshed well as a team tonight.”

The Cats cooled off a bit in the second period but still outscored

the Royals 14-8, to hold a comfortable 35-15 halftime margin.

Oak Harbor turned the heat up once again in the third period with an 18-0 run, before Lynnwood’s Caitlin Johnson finally broke the string hitting a basket with 1:37 remaining in the quarter. By that time, the score was 53-15.

“The girls played a good game and we felt a lot better tonight than we did after last week’s game,” McLeod said.

Clair Thiel scored eight points for the Wildcats and Jasmine Chong had six coming off the bench.

Abriana Hill led Lynnwood with seven points.

Oak Harbor 71, Lynnwood 19

Lynnwood 7 8 2 2 — 19

Oak Harbor 21 14 20 16 — 71

Lynnwood (19) — Abriana Hill 2 2-2 7, Alanna Eddy 3 0-2 6, Kari Hella 0 0-0 0, Laycee Hill 1 0-0 2, Kelsey Parker 1 0-0 2, Caitlin Johnson 1 0-0 2, Jordan Krubally 0 0-0 0, Jessica Anthony 0 0-2 0, Shannon Casey 0 0-0 0, Alexandra Kossik 0 0-0 0. Totals 8 2-6 19.

Oak Harbor (71) — Jessica Denmon 9 0-0 21, Janay Baeyen 5 2-2 14, Mietra Smollack 4 2-2 10, Clair Thiel 3 2-2 8, Cheyenne Tubo 1 0-0 3, Danica Russell 1 0-0 2, Jennifer Jansen 1 1-2 3, Cori Henricksen 1 0-0 2, Roshaunda Smith 0 0-0 0, Jasmine Chong 3 0-0 6, Briana Brothers 0 2-4 2. Totals 28 9-12 71.

Three-point goals — Lynnwood 1 (A. Hill); Oak Harbor 6 (Denmon 3, Baeyen 2, Tubo). Turnovers — Lynnwood 25, Oak Harbor 15. Total fouls — Lynnwood 13, Oak Harbor 9. Fouled out — none. Technical fouls — none.