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Owls advance to district finals with win over Whittemore-Prescott

News Photo by Jonny Zawacki Oscoda’s Katelyn Etherton (2) goes up and makes a shot while being defended by Whittemore-Prescott’s Laila Bell (5) during the second quarter of a Division 3 girls district semifinal basketball game on Wednesday at Oscoda High School. The Owls defeated the Cardinals 51-27 and advance to Friday’s district championship game against Alcona at 7 p.m. at Oscoda High School.

OSCODA — Wednesday’s Division 3 district semifinal proved to be just another game and another victory for the Oscoda girls basketball team.

The Owls improved to 21-0 on the year and advanced to Friday’s district championship game with a convincing win over North Star League rival Whittemore-Prescott as the Owls knocked off the Cardinals by a final score of 51-27 at Oscoda High School.

Whittemore opened the game with a plan of playing a little keep away, but it only lasted for the first two minutes and Oscoda wasted no time taking the game over.

The Cardinals began the opening possession by dribbling around the perimeter and not making much of an attempted to drive to the basket or attempt any shots.

Whittemore ran down nearly two minutes of game clock before turning the ball over and the Owls weren’t wasting any time creating scoring opportunities and putting up points.

Oscoda scored the first nine points of the game, including four of the first six from point guard Katelyn Etherton who got the home team rolling.

The Owls raced out to a 13-2 after one quarter and continued to build on their lead throughout the night.

Brooke Nowiski had the hot hand early as she drilled three shots from beyond the long line in the first half and scored all 11 of her points in the first two quarters and helped Oscoda take a comfortable 26-11 lead into the break.

The final two quarters were much of the same as the Owls controlled the game and kept building a lead.

Oscoda held a 35-19 lead after three quarters and added eight unanswered points early in the fourth as Etherton scored six points in the fourth.

The Owls emptied the bench in the final minutes of the game and finished the game in style as held Whittemore to single digits in all four quarters and didn’t allow a single Cardinal to score in double figures, as Laila Bell finished with eight points to lead Whittemore.

Etherton led all scorers with a game high 16 points, Izzy Hulverson added eight points and Lauren Langley chipped in with six points as Oscoda got contributions across the board as nine Owls cracked the scoring column in the victory.

Oscoda moves on to Friday’s district championship game where the Owls will face a familiar opponent in the Alcona Tigers who defeated Roscommon in the second game of the night on Wednesday.

The Owls blew out Alcona in the first meeting of the season, but the most recent meeting between the two was much closer as Oscoda edged the Tigers 54-47 a little less than a month ago.

The two teams will tip off Friday at 7 p.m. at Oscoda High School.

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BOX SCORE: Field goals made/Free throws made/Free throws attempted/Total Points

OSCODA (51): K. Etherton, 7 2-4 16; M. Kellstrom, 0 2-2 2; I. Hulverson, 3 2-2 8; M. Arocha, 1 0-0 2; L. Langley, 3 0-0 6; O. Toppi, 1 0-0 2; K. Griggs, 1 0-1 2; M. Myles, 1 0-0 2B. Nowiski, 4 0-0 11.

WHITTEMORE-PRESCOTT (27): L. Bell, 2 3-6 8; L. Hart, 2 0-0 5; M. Broughton, 3 0-0 6; A. Caron, 3 0-0 6; C. Lewis, 1 0-0 2.

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