The heartbreak of the Oakdale High School Lady Mustangs varsity basketball season continued this past week. Senior center Emery Sipe was sidelined with an undisclosed knee injury for the team’s 59-55 overtime loss to visiting Weston Ranch on Tuesday night, Feb. 2. The missed presence of Sipe to an already banged up team who lost fellow senior Scarlett Brock to a torn meniscus a few weeks back, showed as the depleted team could not complete what would have been an amazing comeback.
Shorthanded Oakdale (8-14, 1-9) came out sluggish to start the game, as the team did not get their first field goal of the first quarter until a Colleen Ibasco layup with 1:46 remaining. It was Oakdale’s only field goal of the quarter and they found themselves in a 14-3 hole to the Lady Cougars (4-17, 2-8).
Over the next eight minutes the Lady Mustangs offense woke up and brought the home crowd back to life. With 7:16 left to play in the half, sophomore Sarah Bohrer began her offensive assault on Weston Ranch with her first field goal of the game on a three point shot at the top of the key. With 1:03 left in the half, Bohrer knocked down her second three point basket of the half to cut the deficit down to 29-18. Bohrer showed her determination with less than five seconds left in the half as the sophomore guard pulled down the offensive rebound, and on her put back attempt was fouled. Bohrer connected on both free throw attempts to put the score 29-20 at the half. Bohrer scored 11 first half points and finished the game with a team high 24 points and added six rebounds for Oakdale.
The first half was dominated by a sophomore, but the third quarter would belong to senior Micaela Maaske for Oakdale. Maaske scored six first half points, but eclipsed that total in the final five minutes of the third quarter. The senior forward scored eight third quarter points, including the team’s final six points on three consecutive possessions to bring Oakdale to within four points. Oakdale entered the fourth quarter down 38-34.
Bohrer picked up where she left off in the second quarter for the Lady Mustangs, showing her speed on a steal and fast break layup to tie the game at 38 with 5:46 remaining in regulation. Junior guard Kirsten Murphy gave Oakdale their first lead of the night with a jumper to give Oakdale a 40-39 advantage with 5:22 remaining in the fourth. Oakdale’s lead was short lived as Weston Ranch responded with a 6-0 run to take a 45-40 lead forcing Oakdale to call the timeout. The run was stopped by Bohrer on her third three pointer of the night to cut the lead down to 45-43 with 4:02 left in regulation. Junior Madison Brewer, who scored six of her seven points in the second half and overtime, rattled in a pair of key free throws to bring Oakdale within one point 46-45 with 1:45 left to play in regulation. Brewer also pulled in a team high 13 rebounds. With the score 47-45, both teams committed two uncontested turnovers over the course of the final minute. With 13.6 seconds left, Maaske connected on a pair of free throws to tie the game at 47. Weston Ranch then cashed in on a layup but gave Oakdale 3.3 seconds to work with on the game clock. Weston Ranch made the error of fouling Bohrer with 0.06 seconds left. The sophomore did not crumble under the pressure and made both of the critical free throw attempts to tie the game at 49.
Ibasco converted on a layup with 3:00 left in overtime to tie the game at 51. Bohrer tied the game once again on a long jumper just inside the arc seconds later. Down by two with 40.7 seconds left, Maaske pulled down the offensive rebound and successfully put the ball through the net on a finger roll to tie the game at 55 with 36.2 seconds left in overtime. Down 57-55 freshman Gabby Mayo’s pass attempt was stolen by Weston Ranch’s Cierra Jones with 10.7 seconds left. Weston Ranch’s Vanessa Vega then connected on a pair of late free throws to put the game out of reach for Oakdale, the host Lady Mustangs falling by the four-point margin after the hard-fought contest.
“We wanted it. We really felt like we should have won this game, but things did not fall our way,” Maaske said.
She finished the game with 18 points and five rebounds for Oakdale.
The Lady Mustangs defeated Weston Ranch earlier in the season 56-50 on the road for Oakdale’s lone VOL victory. Oakdale’s season concludes this week as the team hosted Manteca (16-8, 10-1) on Tuesday, Feb. 9 following The Leader’s press time. They will travel to Central Catholic (16-7, 7-4) for a home and home series against the Lady Raiders that concludes on Friday, Feb. 12 for Senior Night 2016. Game time is scheduled for 5:45 p.m. The season finale is Tuesday, Feb. 16 at first place East Union (22-1, 10-0).
JV/FRESHMEN
The junior varsity girls earned a hard fought 51-41 home win over Weston Ranch. Oakdale valued the ball, only committing nine total turnovers on the night. Leading the way for Oakdale was freshman Zoe Gillen who scored 20 points, while Trinity Burger added 15 points and 12 rebounds for Oakdale.
The youngest of the trio of girl’s teams earned a 30-18 home win over Kimball on Thursday, Feb. 4, the freshmen taking the VOL victory.
