The Oakdale Lady Mustangs varsity basketball team is off to 4-1 start thus far in 2015. Oakdale spilt a pair of non-league games as the team knocked off visiting Riverbank on Tuesday 43-20, but fell to visiting Calaveras on Wednesday night, Dec 9.
Playing four games over a one week period, the Lady Mustangs opened up the first quarter against Riverbank on Dec. 8 with an 8-0 run. Senior guard Colleen Ibasco got the crowd to its feet when she stole the ball away at half court, sent an outlet pass to a teammate, and, after a missed basket Ibasco hustled from the free throw line, pulled down the rebound and made the put back bucket to give Oakdale a 12-2 lead. Oakdale’s Gabriela Mayo followed up with a steal and fast break, uncontested layup for the 14-2 advantage with 3:11 left to play in the first quarter.
The Lady Mustangs offense then cooled off, only scoring six points in the second quarter. Oakdale scored their first point of the second quarter after senior Emery Sipe split a pair of free throws, with 2:47 left in the half. Sophomore Sarah Bohrer knocked down a three from the top of the arc giving Oakdale an 18-7 lead with 1:08 left in the half. Ibasco stole the ensuing inbounds pass and finished with a layup to advance the Lady Mustang lead to 20-7 lead with 1:01 left in the half. Ibasco finished with six points and two rebounds on the night.
The Lady Mustangs went up by a dozen late in the third quarter after Sipe knocked in both free throw attempts to give Oakdale a 26-14 lead. Sipe continued to punish the Lady Bruins with a big second half performance as she finished the game with back-to-back buckets late in the fourth quarter to give Oakdale a 41-18 advantage with less than a minute to play.
Oakdale’s defense outrebounded the Lady Bruins 32-15, including 11 by senior Scarlett Brock, six by Sipe and three by Bohrer. Ibasco added four steals and Micaela Maaske rejected a Lady Bruins shot attempt under the rim in the second half that got the Lady Mustangs bench on their feet.
The busy schedule continued on Tuesday night, Dec. 15 when the girls hosted Hilmar in a non-league game. The game was held after The Leader’s press time. Oakdale will hit the road for a five game road trip that starts on Friday, Dec. 18 in Sonora and wraps up on Wednesday, Dec. 30 at Beyer. Oakdale returns home on Saturday, Jan. 2 against Atwater. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m. for their showdown with the Lady Falcons.
JV/FROSH
The JV Lady Mustangs earned a hard fought win in a battle on Wednesday night, Dec. 9 against Calaveras, defeating the Lady Redskins 41-31.
The youngest of the Oakdale girls basketball teams were off this past week but were scheduled to host Hilmar on Tuesday, night Dec. 15 after The Leader went to press.
