Arabians fight off West Oso in Regional Quarterfinal

Arabians Tori Martin, left, and Julia Harrell play tough defense against West Oso during Devine’s 47-31 Regional Semifinal win. Photo by Kayleen Holder.

Your Arabians defeated the West Oso Lady Bears to capture the Regional Quarter Final Championship in a great game last Thursday. The final score was 47-32, and while it might look like a big lead, I’ll guarantee you the Arabians fought hard to earn that lead, scoring 20 of those points in the last 8 minutes of the game.
Senior post Julia Harrell put the first 2 points on the board for the Arabians. After making a great steal, Jenna Sadler took the ball down court and went in for the layup, but got tripped up and injured in the first quarter. Junior post Lily Stricker stepped in for her. Senior Post Tori Martin scored on the next drive, and with some fancy footwork, Martin surprised the Lady Bears and went up for another shot shortly afterward to make it 6-3. Stricker added the next two points to make it 8-5. With about 20 seconds left in the first quarter, senior guard Ariel Lopez swiped the ball as the Bears were passing it inbounds, and went in for another Arabian layup to finish the quarter 10-9.
Senior guard Vanessa Oyola hit a nice 3-pointer to start off the second quarter scoring. Harrell added 4 points to that in the next two plays, earning the Arabians a 17-11 lead. Stricker nailed another to round out the second quarter 19-15.
The Lady Bears really got fired up during halftime and came out with their claws out, but the Arabian defense was just as tough, and we never let our guard down.
Harrell started off the scoring in the second half with 2 points in the beginning of the 3rd quarter. After getting fouled, Sophomore Preslee Quisenberry nailed a free throw to make it 22-17. Oyola made a nice drive to put more points on the board. A great steal by Martin led to another Arabian attempt but the ball seemed to roll in and out of the basket over and over on the next couple plays. Oyola broke the pattern with a nice long shot from the right side, and swish, we were up 26-21. The Bears made a layup and got two free throws, almost tying up the game from the rebound, but not quite. The score was 26 Devine- 25 Bears. Junior Chesney Friesenhahn fought hard to get the next rebound, tying up the ball and getting Arabian possession at a critical point in the game. Our next attempt failed, but thanks to a great blocked shot by Martin on the Bear’s next possession, they didn’t gain any ground, and the score remained 26-25. Nearly everyone got their hands on the ball in the next play, as the Arabians passed the ball around, patiently waiting for the right opportunity to score. Quisenberry took in, driving right through the tough Lady Bears defense, earning a shot to sink a free throw making it 27-25.
Fans were hanging on the edge of their seats as the final quarter began with 8 minutes on the clock. Quisenberry shook up the bears with a great steal on the opening drive, but the ball didn’t quite make it in the basket. One of our most aggressive players, Lopez, came down with the rebound on the next play and drove down court, hitting Harrell who went up the layup taking a foul. It was nothing but net as Harrell sunk two free throws to earn the Arabians a more comfortable 4-point lead at 29-25. The Lady Bears really sunk in their claws with a full court press right down to the inbound line, stealing our next inbound pass and gaining on us a little 29-27. But not to worry, Oyola fired back and bigger with a great 3-pointer to make the score 32-27 with a little over 5:30 left on the clock. Lopez drove the Bears out of bounds on their next possession, getting the ball back again, and it wasn’t long before Lopez tore right through defenders for a great layup to further our lead 34-27. Martin put up a solid block in the next play, costing the Bears an offensive foul and a turnover. Oyola hit another long shot with 3 minutes left, followed by Harrell who added 2 points and then a free throw for a good10 point lead that didn’t come easily. Martin hit the next basket, which was followed up with several Arabian free throws from fouls on the next few plays including 4 free throws from Oyola, 2 free throws sunk by Quisenberry.
All of the Arabians played great defense against the Bears, and sunk those shots one after another in a Regional Quarterfinal Championship they can all be proud of.
Statistics:
Devine shot 38% by hitting 17 of 45 shot attempts. Even though the Arabians made only 2 of 12 3-point tries, those two makes produced 6 more points than West Oso’s 0 for 2 for no points. Devine also outscored West Oso 11 to 3 from the free throw line. Ten offensive rebounds led to 13 second chance points for Devine while the Bears could only muster 9 offensive boards for 7 points.
Guard Vanessa Oyola scored 16 points and had 1 rebound, 2 assists, 1 steal, and 1 blocked shot. Post Julia Harrell netted 13 points to go along with 9 rebounds. Tori Martin had 6 points, 7 rebounds, 1 steal, and 1 blocked shot while Preslee Quisenberry, Lily Stricker, and Ariel Lopez each had 4 points. Quisenberry added 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 1 blocked shot. Stricker had 2 rebounds, 1 assist, and 2 blocked shots. Lopez had 7 rebounds and 3 steals. Jenna Sadler finished with 1 rebound, 1 assist, and 2 steals.

By Kayleen Holder
Editor

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