By STEPHEN GLOVER
For the Call
Overwhelming defense triggered a 30-point victory last Friday for the girls’ basketball team at Oakville Senior High School.
The Tigers (12-8, 1-4 Suburban West) boasted their potential during a 68-38 pounding of the Northwest Lions.
In possibly its best played game of the season, Oakville slammed the door on the Lions in the fourth quarter, allowing only two points.
“The kids didn’t play good defense in the first half, but they really stepped it up in the second half,” Oakville head coach Paul Harrington told the Call. “That’s when things really got going.”
Oakville’s Faith Zabek led the Tigers with 24 points and also hauled in seven rebounds.
The junior forward has had the hot hand in the Tigers’ past two games, including a 22-point performance in Oakville’s 52-49 loss at Parkway Central Feb. 2.
“Faith was just on fire and just didn’t miss a shot,” Harrington explained. “She had just an awesome night.”
Oakville’s Stephanie Dippold also step-ped up for the Tigers, scoring 11 points against Northwest. The senior guard is averaging 7.9 points a game this season along with a team-leading 34 steals.
“She was pressing a little bit out there with it being Senior Night,” Harrington said.
Oakville’s Nicole Norberg rounded out the trio of double-digit scorers with 10 points and nine rebounds. The freshman forward has become more valuable to the Tigers this season with the loss of Sherry Zehner for the rest of the 2004-2005 campaign.
“Since she’s been playing full time, she’s been leading us in rebounds,” Harrington said.
“She was getting banged-up inside and wasn’t shooting well,” he said, referring to the victory against Northwest. “But she ended up going to the free-throw line eight times.”
Up next for the Tigers is a tough Suburban West Conference game at Fox at 6 p.m. Friday.
The Warriors are 12-9 overall but carry a 0-5 mark in conference play.
“They’re a very good ball club with a lot of good senior leadership,” Harrington said. “Despite their conference record, it’s really hard to overlook them.”
