WALES — At first, the Oak Hill girls’ basketball team watched its lead dwindle in the third quarter.

Then, the Raiders watched it disappear all together.

Oak Hill was up by double digits early in the second half Tuesday but watched Medomak Valley erase that deficit and take the lead by quarter’s end. The Panthers broke the game open in the fourth quarter for a 58-43 win.

“We didn’t execute well,” said Oak Hill coach Tom Morong. “There were some bad decisions. We seem to shoot ourselves in the foot against good teams, and that was the case in the third quarter.”

The Raiders had doubled their 23-17 halftime advantage and built a 31-19 lead.  Medomak chipped away and got within four, but an Abby Goulet 3-pointer made it 34-27 and gave the Raiders momentum. That was short-lived as the Panthers ran off 10 consecutive points and held a 40-37 lead entering the fourth.

“We just didn’t panic,” said Medomak coach Randy Hooper, whose club beat Oak Hill 55-44 earlier in the season. “Here we were in another game staring over the abyss, but we didn’t panic. “

Alanna Vose led the Panthers (15-2) with 20 points, all coming in the second half. Lindsay Ranquist added 12. Nicole Weaver chipped in nine and Ericka Christensen scored eight.

Oak Hill (12-5)  got a superb outing from both Abby Goulet with 17 and Maggie Sabine with 15.

“Abby Goulet stepped up and had a great game, but we didn’t get her the ball the whole fourth quarter,” said Morong, whose club is ranked sixth in Western B. “That’s a function of making good decisions on the court and we didn’t.”

Oak Hill did a nice job building the early lead. Goulet was sharp from the outside while Sabine was fierce in the paint and on the boards. With the six-point lead at the half, the Raiders opened that up with an 8-2 run in the third. Sabine had five points and Goulet hit a 3 during that stretch.

The Panthers shot just 2-for-15 in the second quarter and turned the ball over eight times in the first quarter. Medomak began to settle down in the third and started executing offensively.  The Panthers ran off eight straight points, four coming from Vose, to make it 31-27.

“We’re always better in the second half,” said Vose. “We just played as a team and the unselfishness was there.”

The Raiders jot a 3 from Goulet to answer, but Oak Hill watched the lead slip away after that. Medomak’s press created havoc and forced eight turnovers in the quarter. It helped spark the late surge that was aided by a pair of 3s by Vose.

“The press got us playing out of control,” said Morong. “The first half, we settled on taking the shot we wanted to take. The second half they didn’t let us do that. We kind of forced the issue.”

The Raiders hit just two shots after that opening stretch of the third and then shot 2-for-13 in the fourth.

“We were able to extend and we got some stuff with the press,” said Hooper, whose team is third in Eastern B. “The real key was once we got ahead, we were able to pull out and make them go man-to-man. That was to our benefit.”

The Panthers used a 10-3 run to open the lead in the fourth. After scoring 10 in the third, Vose finished things off with another 10, six coming from the foul line, in the fourth.

“In the first half, we didn’t penetrate as much,” said Vose. “Coach told us that we needed to attack the gaps. We did that, and it created opportunities for post players and it drew the fouls.”

kmills@sunjournal.com

Click here to view more action photos.

Copy the Story Link