Since winning their Valley Oak League season opener on Jan. 4, hard times have followed for the OHS varsity Lady Mustangs basketball team. The girls have lost five straight league games, including two this past week as the squad lost 36-27 at Lathrop on Wednesday, Jan. 18 and fell to visiting Central Catholic 61-55 on Friday night.
The Friday night loss to the visiting Raiders saw sophomore Zoe Gillen score a team high 25 points. The Lady Mustangs found themselves down 45-35 after three quarters. A valiant effort by Oakdale in the fourth quarter started with the team scoring four points in less than 20 seconds into the quarter to cut the lead down to 45-39, forcing Central Catholic to call a time out.
Junior guard Sarah Bohrer, who scored 15 points in the game, scored on a long two-point shot just inside the arc with 2:17 left in regulation, making the score 58-48. On the other side of the floor senior Maddy Brewer took a charge under the basket, forcing the turnover down 58-50 with 1:37 left to play. Oakdale brought the deficit down to 58-53 following an offensive rebound and put back with 41 seconds left. But they couldn’t quite get the final few points needed, taking the hard-fought loss.
Oakdale (11-8, 1-5) traveled to Manteca on Tuesday, Jan. 24 to take on first place Manteca (9-9, 6-0) following The Leader’s press time. The road trip continues for Oakdale as they head to East Union (14-4, 4-2) to battle the Lancers on Thursday, Jan. 26. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Oakdale returns home on Tuesday, Jan. 31 to host Sierra (2-15, 0-5).
JUNIOR VARSITY
Two games, two wins for the JV basketball girls. Defense was the name of the game for the junior varsity squad this past week as the girls held both teams to a total of 33 combined points. Oakdale defeated Lathrop 27-18 and then blew out Central Catholic by a 35-15 contest in front of the home crowd on Friday night. Leading the team in scoring against Lathrop was Carley Maaske with 11 points and eight rebounds. Caroline Hamilton pulled down 11 rebounds and dished out four assists against Lathrop. Hallie Morton scored six points on the night. Hamilton led the team against Central Catholic Friday night, as she posted 12 points and nine rebounds.
