Nighthawks knock out Fighting Irish

OAKESDALE - The Oakesdale Nighthawks returned home on Jan. 14 after a 77-30 win against Tekoa-Rosalia on Jan. 13 to take on the DeSales Fighting Irish.

Oakesdale defended its homecourt, taking down DeSales 72-28 in a one-sided affair.

"Our game plan was to really bring the pressure and pressure the ball no matter who had it," Oakesdale head coach Heidi Perry said. "And I think we did a good job on that. And it was really nice to see us execute that. We were pretty consistent, I think, throughout the game (with) keeping the pressure on."

Perry's Nighthawks squad opened the game with a 7-2 run, and only continued to bolster their lead, going into the second quarter up 18-4.

DeSales kept pace with Oakesdale in the first three minutes of the second frame, and the Fighting Irish kept the deficit at 14, but the Nighthawks offense was able to put more distance between their 1B foes and led 32-13 with 2:25 to go in the first half.

Oakesdale concluded the half on a 6-2 run and owned a 38-16 advantage at halftime.

The Fighting Irish only mustered four points in the third quarter while the Nighthawks put up 15.

Oakesdale went on to put up a higher-scoring fourth quarter, and secured the 44-point win.

The Nighthawks were able to find the bucket tonight without a huge scoring output from Marilla Hockett, who was playing but dealing with an illness that led to her being questionable to play for Oakesdale before the game.

Despite not having her typical scoring output, Hockett was able to contribute to the win in other ways.

"I think that maybe (Marilla) didn't score a lot tonight, but you have to look at how she got the ball to people so they could score," Perry said. "And I don't think there's anybody better who passes the ball up the floor in transition than she does. And she just delivers those dimes to everybody so they can have an easy bucket."

Several players benefited from Hockett's floor management, such as Jessie Reed – who paced the Nighthawks with 26 points. Lucy Hockett added 12 points in the win and Bradyn Henley added 11.

The win improved Oakesdale's record to 12-1 on the season and 7-1 in league competition.

For DeSales, they drop to 4-8 overall and 1-4 in league play.

"Defensively we just didn't respond to the pressure really well," DeSales head coach Wyatt Withers said. "It kind of got into our heads a little bit. I would say one of the biggest things that impacted us overall was (Oakesdale's) ability to push the ball after defensive rebounds and get out ahead of us in fastbreaks."

Emmalyne Jimenez paced the Fighting Irish, scoring 14 of the team's 30 points.

Oakesdale was in action against Valley Christian (Spokane) on Jan. 17 in Oakesdale. Results were unavailable at press time.

DESALES (4-8, 1-4)

Regina Nelson 2 1-2 5, Tori Kimble 1 0-0 2, Heidi Scott 2 1-2 5, Emmalyne Jimenez 6 0-0 14, Lian Skarrup 0 0-0 0, Lin Skarrup 0 0-0 0, Abi Guest 0 0-0 0, Anniston Jimenez 2 0-0 4, Morgan Thomas 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 2-4 30.

OAKESDALE (12-1, 7-1)

Emily Dingman 2 0-0 4, Jessie Reed 10 6-8 26, Marilla Hockett 3 0-2 7, Bradyn Henley 5 0-0 11, Lucy Hockett 4 4-5 12, Grace Perry 3 1-2 7, Samantha Holling 1 0-0 2, Paige Eads 1 0-0 2. Totals 29 11-17 71.

DeSales 4 12 4 10–30

Oakesdale 18 21 14 18–71

3-point goals – E. Jimenez 2, M. Hockett, Bradyn Henley.