Oroville senior Kayla McKinney making a shot over Tonasket junior Jerian Ashley during Oroville’s away game at THS on Tuesday, Dec. 8. Also shown is Tonasket junior Shelby Olma (20). Photo by Terry Mills

TONASKET – For the first time in years, the Oroville girls’ basketball team beat the Tonasket Tigers on Tuesday, Dec. 8, 33-22.

“We hung in the game right up to the end of the fourth quarter and ultimately what killed us was our turnovers, we ended up with 31,” Stephanie Schertenleib, Tonasket head coach, said. “That is how many times we gave the other team the ball without getting a shot up.”

She said the Tigers played pretty good defense overall but that the game came down to the Tigers turning the ball over too much.

Junior Jayden Hawkins led the Tigers with eight points, five rebounds and two steals. Senior April Webber was also a leader for the team with six rebounds and one steal.

“We didn’t execute our offense and we were all jumbled up and didn’t know what to do,” Hawkins said. “I think it was just nerves. We’ve beaten Oroville six years in a row so we were under a lot of pressure to keep the winning streak alive.”

Oroville senior Kayla McKinney said she thought the game was really good because the Hornets finally won over the Tigers after eight years.

“We are 2-1 right now and we’re doing really well,” McKinney added. “I hope we can win league and go on to state.”

Hawkins said she feels the Tigers are progressing and they’re showing improvements in practices if not in games.

“I think we’ll show improvement by the end of the season,” Hawkins said. “Even though we lost, we played really good defense and our free throws improved.”