Winter Homecoming 2016 began with the varsity girls basketball team hosting the East Union Lancers. A sluggish second quarter where Oakdale was outscored 12-4, saw the Lady Mustangs take a 53-40 loss in front of the large crowd. The Lady Mustangs kept the game close throughout the first quarter where they trailed 11-8 after the first eight minutes. Colleen Ibasco hustled under the rim and gathered an offensive rebound and put back to make it 11-8 with nine seconds left in the opening quarter. Senior center Emery Sipe scored six of the first quarter eight points for Oakdale. Sipe finished with a team high 10 points and pulled down six rebounds for Oakdale.
The Lady Mustangs’ second quarter slump included the team shooting one of 12 from the floor and resulted in a halftime deficit of 23-12. Sipe had a team high six points to end the first half, while Kirsten Murphy pulled down three of her team high eight rebounds for the Lady Mustangs in the first 16 minutes of action.
Oakdale began the second half cold and scored their first points on a Micaela Maaske jumper to cut the lead down 28-14 with 5:23 left in the third quarter. Maaske continued to make a difference on offense when she made a hard dash through the lane; she made the layup and was fouled. Maaske completed the three point play making her free throw attempt, bringing the score to 39-23 with 1:23 left in the third quarter. Maaske finished with nine points, three rebounds, a steal and a block. Murphy hit a jumper with 18.1 seconds left in the third, and Sipe got the crowd back into the game on a pass to Sarah Bohrer in the corner where she knocked down a three-point shot at the buzzer. Bohrer racked up eight points, four rebounds and two steals. Oakdale matched the Lancers point for point at 16 in the third quarter to be down 39-28 entering the final frame.
“I think shots just started to fall for us in the third quarter. We had high percentage shots in the first half but they just were not falling for us,” first year varsity coach Julie Ford said of the team’s third quarter success.
The Lady Mustangs were forced to take a timeout as East Union built up a 45-32 lead with 5:03 left to play. Ibasco knocked down a deep three ball with just less than ten seconds left to play for the final points of the game but the Lady Lancers walked away with the win in hand. Ibasco finished with seven points and four rebounds.
Oakdale (8-10, 1-5) hosted Lathrop (10-6, 4-2) on Tuesday, Jan. 26 after The Leader went to press. The Lady Mustangs hit the road to play Central Catholic (12-6, 3-3) on Friday, Jan 29 with tip off at 5:45 p.m. Oakdale returns home to host Sierra (9-10, 1-5) on Monday, Feb. 2 with tip off at 7:15 p.m.
Junior Varsity
The Oakdale junior varsity girls were on the road for a pair of VOL games. Oakdale visited Manteca to take on the Junior Lady Buffaloes on Wednesday, Jan. 20. The Lady Mustangs fell to Manteca 55-42 in the road contest. On short rest, the girls headed back to Manteca the following day to take on East Union, where Oakdale came up on the wrong side of a 53-33 outcome. Oakdale returns home for a foursome of league games that began on Tuesday, against Lathrop. Oakdale hosts Central Catholic on Thursday, followed by Sierra on Monday and Weston Ranch on Tuesday, Feb. 2. Tipoff for each game is scheduled for 5:45 p.m.
Freshmen
Oakdale hosted Lathrop on Tuesday, Jan. 26 in league action following The Leader’s press time. The game was Oakdale’s first of six consecutive home games. This week the frosh girls host Central Catholic on Thursday, followed by Sierra on Monday and Weston Ranch on Tuesday. All games begin at 4:15 p.m.
