By Wendi Reardon Price
Staff Writer
OXFORD TWP. — The Wildcats brought in the new year with a 73-45 victory over Bloomfield Hills at Oxford High School’s Ian Smith Gymnasium last Friday night.
The Oxford girls varsity basketball team opened the night with a three point lead with one point from freshman Mia Champagne and a basket from junior Allison Hufstedler.
Bloomfield Hills junior Briana Young put the Blackhawks on the board with 6:27 remaining in the first quarter.
The Wildcats responded going on a 14-2 run, starting with a 3-pointer from Hufstedler.
Bloomfield Hills scored with 38 seconds left in the first quarter and Hufstedler added one more basket to close out the quarter with Wildcats leading, 19-6.
“We never go above and think about the next game,” said Rachel Bryer, Oxford head coach. “This was our next game that we prepped for. For three days we talked about it. We learned how we were going to play post. We talked about how to contain some of the drivers on the team. We always have things we have to work on, but the girls did a nice job coming out strong, pushing on the floor. They took what we did in practice and they are learning, they are getting better.”
The Wildcats continued their momentum, containing the Blackhawks to only 10 points, finishing the first half with a 32-16 lead.
“You never know what you are going to get,” said Bryer. “You never know what teams are going to come with. Every night is a learning experience with these girls. They are all hard working and they want to do well. They really take the opportunity to learn each team and what we have to do offensively, defensively to be successful.”
Richter led with 20 points, with two 3-pointers. Hufstedler scored 15 points and had one 3-pointer. Champagne had nine points and juniors Brynley Cardona and Emma Beggs each contributed with six points.
“Pretty much everyone contributed,” said Bryer, adding only three players didn’t score. “Everyone did really well. I thought our bigs had a tough job tonight. Peyton, Mia and Abby Snable all took a turn at the big girl on the inside and ran her a little bit. She is a great player. She has great hands. We are outsized in that aspect but they did a nice job to contain and not allow her to score on the inside. We worked a lot on that.
“Allison did a great job pushing the ball up the floor and being a point guard when I needed her to be a point guard. Overall this team had some players who saw some minutes on the floor come in and had some big shots and had some momentum. It was a nice game.”
Bryer said having the holiday break helped.
“Everyone likes to get away, have time with family and reset,” she said. “We had a tough game against Saginaw Heritage that we had to do some figuring out and figure out what we wanted as a team and what our goals are. I think this game allowed us to ease back into it and get ready for a tough road ahead.
Oxford (4-3) opened the week against Yale on Tuesday. They head to Farmington on Thursday. They start their OAA Red league play on the road against Rochester on Jan. 16.
“We have been in the OAA Red before, but this is the first time in awhile,” said Bryer. “We are looking forward to it. We are ready to compete. My girls don’t back down from much. They will compete with anybody on the floor.”