The 2014-15 basketball preseason came to a close Saturday night, Jan. 3 when the varsity Lady Mustangs hosted the Lady Tigers of Terra Nova, a game that resulted in a thrilling Terra Nova overtime victory, 52-45.

Oakdale struggled in the first quarter offensively, scoring only eight points but trailing just 10-8 after one frame. Sadly, for the Lady Mustangs, their offensive struggles continued into the second quarter, as the ladies couldn’t get on the board until a three ball from Caylie O’Neal found the bottom of the net with 2:43 remaining in the half to close the gap to 14-11. Moments later Sarah Bohrer provided some much needed offense to Oakdale, as she knocked down back-to-back threes to bring the Lady Mustangs back into the game and down only two points at the half, 19-17.

Oakdale’s offense came alive in the third, outscoring Terra Nova 15-8 to give the Lady Mustangs a 32-27 advantage, including a pair of free throws by Anna Perrone to give Oakdale their first lead of the game since the opening seconds, 25-24 with 3:42 left in the quarter.

“The girls came out in the second half ready to play and determined. That’s the way we want to play during the regular season,” shared an enthusiastic head coach, Justin Schwitters after the game.

Unfortunately for Oakdale, their momentum came to a screeching halt in the fourth quarter. Oakdale’s five-point lead vanished and they found themselves clinging to a 37-36 lead with 22.3 seconds left. After an Oakdale turnover, Terra Nova took the lead on an inbound layup from Arianna Sheehy. Down 38-37 with 19.2 seconds left to play in regulation, Oakdale’s Courtney Rodgers made a trip to the free throw line where she made one of two to tie the game at 38 and the two teams played an extra four minutes as they headed to overtime.

Terra Nova’s offense began to sizzle, making three straight shots to begin the overtime and put away the Lady Mustangs.

“We just need to find a way to close out games; we are just not there yet as a team. It will come to us though,” said Schwitters.

Oakdale opens up the Valley Oak League regular season campaign with a pair of home games. They open up against Sierra on Wednesday, Jan. 7 and take the court against Kimball two days later. Tip off for freshmen is 4:15 p.m.; junior varsity at 5:30 p.m. and varsity storm the court at 7:15 p.m.