Before the ladies’ basketball team headed home for their winter break, they showed the Lake Orion Dragons what Oxford is made of in a 42-27 win. Earlier in the week, the ladies picked up a loss against Romeo.

The Dec. 20 matchup against Lake Orion was the ladies’ first OAA White game of the season, and they came ready to play. Junior guard Sarah Tyrrell led the team with 13 points, and senior forward HaLaya Cato put 11 on the board.

Other key players were junior guard Gabrielle Dinges with eight rebounds and sophomore guard Mackenzie Methner with six rebounds. Head Coach Rachel Bryer said those rebounds are essential to the team’s ability to win and are a focus in many practices.

A few days earlier on Dec. 18, the ladies lost a heartbreaker to Romeo 35-22.

The Wildcats spent the majority of the game down by a few points, but managed to stay on Romeo’s tail until the game’s final minutes when Romeo ran away with an over 10-point lead.

“We had many opportunities to score, and were able to get to the free-throw line, but it wasn’t in our cards tonight,” Bryer said. “We just couldn’t buy a bucket.”

In the tough loss, Cato and senior guard Ashley Hershman put in the work. Together, the two scored 17 of the Wildcats’ 22 points. On the defensive end, Dinges led the ladies and earned a Lady Wildcat tradition, the “Hustle and Heart” stick for her efforts throughout the game.

Even though they took a loss, Bryer was impressed with her players’ maturity off the court.

“One of my players said it best, ‘You are going to fail more times than you have success, it’s how you react to it that defines you,’” Bryer recalled. “I couldn’t agree more with her.”

The ladies are now 1-0 in the OAA White and 2-2 overall. The girls will be back on the court after the Christmas break on Jan. 4 when they travel to Farmington.