By Dean Vaglia
Leader Staff Writer
The Oxford High School varsity basketball teams played their final home games last week, the girls moving onto playoffs while the boys face one last week of OAA Blue showdowns.
The girls had a strong pair of home games against OAA White rivals, scoring a 49-27 win over the Lake Orion Dragons on Tuesday, Feb. 22 and a 41-29 win over the Rochester Adams Highlanders on Thursday, Feb. 24.
“The girls came out and played an extremely physical game and executed a lot of their offense and defensively looked phenomenal,” Rachel Bryer, girls head coach, said about the Lake Orion win. “The tempo just really came through. Kayla Casper really had a great game and had a double-double. When we needed her to score and [needed] someone to step up, she was there for us.”
Top players for the week were Kayla Casper with 13 points against Lake Orion, Miranda Wyniemko with 10 points against Lake Orion and 19 against Adams and Sophia Raab with 10 points against Lake Orion.
The girls end their regular season with an overall record of 12-5, placing third in the OAA White with an 8-4 record behind the 9-4 Lake Orion and the 13-1 Rochester Falcons. Their performance was good enough to earn a bye on Monday, making the Grand Blanc Bobcats their first playoff opponent tonight (Wednesday) at Davison High School. The game starts at 5:30 p.m.
“This game is really going to come down to every play,” Bryer said. “The girls know that defensively and offensively they have to be spot on. I think it is going to be a physical match because my girls work hard but I know [Grand Blanc’s] girls want this as well.”
The boys are still a week out from their playoff match against the Flint Kearsley Hornets, also hosted at Davison, but wrapped up their regular season home games with a 43-64 loss to Detroit Country Day on Wednesday, Feb. 23 and a 45-55 OAA Blue loss to Rochester on Friday, Feb. 25.
“We are turning the ball over too much, and what is really hurting us is we are not shooting the ball very well,” Steve Laidlaw, boys head coach, said. “Outside of Bryce [Esman] and Jake [Champagne], we are not scoring at the three levels: layups, mid-range jumpers and 3-points … Our defense has kept us in the game if we do not turn the ball over.”
Top players for the week were Esman with 19 points against and 12 rebounds against Country Day, 19 points and nine rebounds against Rochester; Champagne with 12 points against Rochester and Benjamin Cruz with strong defense and a 3-pointer against Rochester.
Last week’s losses put the boys just above the bottom in the OAA Blue with a 4-4 league record, tying with Troy Athens and beating out the 1-7 Southfield Arts & Tech. This week they travel to league leaders Berkley on Wednesday, March 1 and third place Birmingham Seaholm on Friday, March 3; both start at 7 p.m.
The boys travel up to Davidson to take on Flint Kearsley next Monday, March 7; tipoff is at 7 p.m. Tickets to the girls and boys playoff games are available online at gofan.co/app/school/MI10050.