The cross-town rival Lake Orion Dragons turned a special night for the varsity girls basketball seniors into a nightmare as Dragons traveled up M-24 and beat Oxford 39-34.
Lake Orion used some stifling defense as they held Oxford to 17 points through three quarters as they built up a 31-17 lead.
In the fourth, the Wildcats found their shooting touch and crawled within one point, but couldn’t quite take the lead.
Oxford outscored the Dragons 17-8 in the quarter. ‘We dug ourselves a hole through the first three quarters and in the fourth quarter we came at them and started playing real well. A lot of intensity; tried to bring it back…but we couldn’t get over the hump,? varsity coach Steve Emert said.
Emert said Lake Orion came out with a better mindset after both schools had the day off due to a snow day.
‘They handled it a little bit better than what we did,? he said.
Before the game, Emert honored his two seniors on the team, Katie Bearse and Michelle Gilmore.
‘We will miss both of them,? he said. ‘Michelle was our point guard and Katie came off the bench and did a good job for us in the post.?
‘We will miss their leadership,? he added. ‘That is tough to have seniors leave.?
Up next for the Wildcats is district game against the winner of the Rochester/Lake Orion game on Monday, Feb. 27.