A pair of home games were on the schedule this past week inside the gym at Oakdale High School. The varsity girls basketball team hosted both Manteca and Central Catholic in Valley Oak League action. On Tuesday night, the girls defeated Manteca 38-24 but fell to Central Catholic on Senior Night 2025 by a 38-33 final on Thursday night, Jan. 30.
In their win over the Buffaloes, Samantha Powell got things going for Oakdale as she pulled down an offensive rebound and dished off the assist to Skye Braaten to give Oakdale a 2-0 advantage with 4:36 remaining in the opening quarter, breaking a scoring drought for both teams. With 1:12 left in the first quarter, Cassidy Terry found Breanna Platt for an assist to go up 6-2. Terry had seven rebounds in the first quarter for Oakdale.
Gaby Acosta got the crowd on their feet when she stole the ball and took it to the rim for a layup at the buzzer to end the first quarter with the Lady Mustangs taking a 10-2 advantage.
Natalie Powell had an offensive rebound and putback basket to put Oakdale up 17-4 with 4:26 remaining in the first half. Oakdale eventually took a 20-10 lead into the locker room.
Much like the first half, Oakdale scored first to start the second half, as Acosta connected on a jumper to go up 22-10 less than 20 seconds into the third quarter. Acosta continued to provide Manteca with problems as she stole the ball at mid court and took it the distance for a fast break layup to go up 24-10 with 7:31 left in the third. Acosta continued to have a big quarter as she gathered another steal, missed a shot but pulled down an offensive rebound and made the basket on a second chance opportunity with to go up 26-12 with 2:12 left in the third quarter. With less than a minute to play in the third quarter, Platt found Natalie Powell for an assist to go up 31-12. Oakdale led 32-13 to end the third quarter. Manteca had a bit of a run in the final frame but Oakdale put the victory on the books. In the win, Acosta had 13 points, four rebounds and four steals. Terry had 10 rebounds and Brielle Lee pulled down seven rebounds.
In junior varsity action it was a 22-16 loss for Oakdale.
Thursday night was Senior Night 2025. A handful of seniors were honored. Montserrat Garcia, Cassidy Terry, Skye Braaten, Xcaret Duque and Samantha Powell were all recognized prior to tip off against the Raiders. It was a rough quarter for Oakdale as they were outscored 14-2 in the opening frame. They scored their first point on a free throw by Lee with 1:24 remaining in the first quarter. The second point came from Samantha Powell on a free throw. Oakdale attempted 14 free throws in the first quarter. Their offense continued to struggle as they did not score again until there was just 2:01 left in the half as Lee scored on a free throw. Their first field goal of the game came when Audrey Clark scored on basket inside the paint with just under 10 seconds remaining in the half. Oakdale went into halftime down 23-8.
The third quarter, Oakdale’s offense kicked into gear and they outscored the visitors 17-5. Samantha Powell completed a three-point play as she was fouled while making a jump shot with 6:46 left to play in the third and the Lady Mustangs down 23-11. A Lee layup with 3:47 remaining in the third quarter cut the deficit in half 26-13. Oakdale made it a seven-point game as Acosta connected on a midrange jumper with 1:34 left in the third down 28-21. Acosta’s assist to Samantha Powell with eight seconds left in the quarter made it a 28-25 game, giving the home crowd plenty to cheer about and energizing the team.
Central Catholic got just enough breathing room in the fourth quarter, especially when Clark brought Oakdale to within five on her assist to Natalie Powell with just under a minute to play. Powell had eight points and nine rebounds. Clark had eight points and seven rebounds. Central held on for the win.
At the JV level, Oakdale got the victory by a 42-30 final.
Oakdale has one game on the slate for this week when the varsity faces off against Sierra on the road in Manteca on Thursday, Feb. 6 at 7:30 p.m.
