In the first round of the South Side Classic, the Oakville Senior High School girls’ basketball team found itself in a very overmatched contest.

The Tigers (2-1) opened the tournament against St. John the Baptist, which has an enrollment of about 900. That enrollment is about a third of Oakville’s. The Lions also lacked depth on their bench and it showed in a 74-11 thumping by Oakville.

Tiger head coach Paul Harrington stated it simply when talking about St. John’s in his team’s season opener.

“St. John’s is a very small school so the numbers are the problem more than them,” he explained. “Their kids played hard, but we just had more on the bench and it really ended up costing them.”

Oakville senior guard Sarah Bartholic led all scorers with 17 points. Bartholic also recorded 10 steals and four rebounds in the lopsided win.

“Sarah’s a player with a lot of athletic ability,” Harrington said. “We’re hoping that she does a fair share of the scoring for us this year.”

Also scoring in double figures for the Tigers was junior forward Kristin Klump with 14 points and sophomore center Faith Zabek with 10 points. Both players dominated the boards as Zabek pulled down 16 rebounds and Klump recorded 13 boards.

In the tournament semifinal, Oakville handed DuBourg a 65-51 pounding in which Zabek led the Tigers with 10 points, eight rebounds, four blocked shots, one assist and one steal.

“Right now we’re just pleased that we have so much depth at the post position,” Harrington said. “Our guards did a good job in getting the ball inside against DuBourg.”

The Tigers’ two-game winning streak came to a quick end in the tournament championship game as Hancock handed them a 77-58 setback. Hancock junior guard Sonya Daugherty torched the Tigers for 44 points, 12 steals, five assists and 12 rebounds.

“We were really looking forward to that game,” the Oakville coach said. “Everything they’ve said about Daugherty is true.

“They (Hancock) had a great game plan and we really struggled with it.”

Zehner and sophomore guard Megan Reel led the Tigers in scoring with 14 points each as Reel recorded five steals, four assists and one rebound. Zehner was a force in the paint once again with nine rebounds and one blocked shot.

“I can’t say enough about her (Reel’s) effort,” Harrington said. “She left everything on the court in that game.”

The Tigers were scheduled to return to action at 7 p.m. Wednesday — after the Call went to press — playing host to Parkway North in their first Suburban South Conference match of the season.

“We’re looking forward to our first conference game of the season,” Harrington said.