Nobody likes to lose.

The girls’ basketball team at Oakville Senior High had its season end on a rough note as the Tigers suffered a 61-58 overtime loss to Seckman in the quarterfinal of the Class 5 District 8 tournament.

“We had played them earlier in the year and beat them by 21,” Oakville head coach Paul Harrington told the Call. “Seckman really came out with a great game.”

One of the keys to Seckman’s success was the fact that the Jaguars’ Mandi Newsome attacked the Tigers from one of their weakest points. She nailed five shots from three-point range en route to a 22-point performance for the evening.

“We just didn’t defend Newsome well,” Harrington explained. “She really gave Seckman what they needed and we didn’t play with quite the intensity the second time around.”

The Tigers (11-15, 4-4 Suburban South Conference) leaped out to an 18-8 lead after the first quarter but found themselves holding on to a 26-25 lead at halftime.

Oakville again pulled ahead 44-38 at the end of three quarters of action and once again relinquished its lead as both teams ended up in a 56-56 tie at the end of regulation play. The Jaguars ended Oakville’s season with a 5-2 run in the overtime period, giving the Tigers the 61-58 victory.

“One of the big disappointments was that we had 21 turnovers against Seckman,” Harrington said. “We need to take care of the ball more than we had all year long.”

Leading the Tigers in scoring were sophomore centers Faith Zabek and Sherry Zehner, who had 20 points each.

“The combination of those two is quite an asset to any team,” Harrington said. “Faith had a really good year and Sherry’s about 100 percent now after her ankle injury.”

Zabek led the Tigers in rebounding with 17, while Zehner pulled down 10 boards of her own in the losing effort.

Of the Tigers’ starting five, just one is a senior as Sarah Bartholic finished out her career with 208 points, 152 rebounds, 55 steals and 53 assists this season.

Oakville will have four returning starters for the 2004-2005 season.