By Teddy Rydquist
Leader Staff Writer
Improving to 7-3 (5-2 Oakland Activities Association Blue Division), the Oxford Wildcats girls’ basketball team posted a 2-1 record from March 1-5.
The action began with a road trip to Berkley High School on March 1, a game the Bears won, 27-24.
Oxford held an eight-point lead, 20-12, at the halftime break, but mustered just four points in the second half. Berkley senior Ryleigh Sanom, who finished with a team-high 15 points, buried the game-winning 3-pointer with one second to play.
Sophomore Miranda Wyniemko led the Wildcats with eight points, with senior Emma Morris pitching in seven.
Head coach Rachel Bryer’s team had another road game two days later, March 3, against rival Lake Orion. Leading by one point after 16 minutes, Oxford pulled away in the second half for a 51-39 victory, completing the regular season sweep of the Dragons.
Wyniemko and Morris again led the way, combining for 31 points, tallying 16 and 15, respectively. Senior Mackenzie Methner had a nice night, too, finishing with nine points.
Kylie Heck, a sophomore, scored a game-high 20 for Lake Orion.
“It’s important. We come into every game with a neutral attitude that anybody can win at any time, and that’s preached all the time to the girls,” Bryer said following the win over the Dragons.
“Some days, you hit your shots, and some days, they don’t fall like you want. Today just happened to be one of those days where our shots were falling, and we were able to read our shots a little bit better.”
After their second-half offensive struggles against the Bears, the Wildcats became stronger as the game progressed against Lake Orion, scoring 32 of their points after the break.
“We spent a lot of time yesterday (Tuesday, March 2) on offense,” Bryer shared. “Just perfecting it, getting confidence in it. That’s something that we really need to work on, and we did yesterday.
“I think yesterday really helped in getting their confidence, working on it, and feeling each other out because it still hasn’t been a full season for us, I feel like we’re still just jumping into things and figuring out who we are.”
There was some bad news to come out of the Dragons game, unfortunately, as Morris, the team’s leading scorer, left the contest with just under six minutes to play with a left arm injury, suffered while driving to the basket on a fast break.
Asked about the extent of the injury postgame, Bryer refused to comment, but Morris did not play in the team’s March 4 clash with the Lapeer Lightning and had her left arm in a sling.
As for the mentioned Lapeer battle, which was played at the Ian Smith Gymnasium, Oxford picked up another victory, 46-35.
With Morris unavailable, Methner was the leading scorer, registering 16 points, with classmate Brooke Zeiter chipping in seven and freshman Payton Richter five.
Dating to February 18, the Wildcats have now won six of their last seven games, and have four-fifths of a homestand remaining, which continued Tuesday, March 9 against the Avondale Yellow Jackets and will include the Troy Athens Red Hawks on Friday, March 12 at 5:30 p.m.