As fans looked up at the halftime scoreboard during Tuesday night’s 1A Emerald City League matchup between The Overlake School and Northwest School, most were shaking their heads in disbelief.

After 16 minutes of play, the score, 10-9 in favor of Northwest School, more closely resembled a baseball game than a hoops contest.

But as the adage goes, “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,” and the Owls came out with renewed intensity in the third quarter and simply outplayed Northwest late in the game, putting 11 points on the board in the fourth quarter en route to a 29-22 victory.

“We weren’t focused, and there was a lack of energy,” explained Owls’ head coach Sara Wilcox on her team’s early struggles. “When we got into the locker room, I said, ‘We’re going to forget that even happened.”

TO ERR IS HUMAN

The story of the low-scoring first half was Northwest School’s 10 turnovers, and Overlake’s inability to get the ball through the basket, which must have seemed the size of a thimble.

The Owls, despite shooting a horrendous 3-of-27 from the field in the first half and being held scoreless for the first 6 minutes and 36 seconds of the second quarter on 0-for-8 shooting, shined on defense and kept Northwest off-balance with very few good looks.

The home squad was able to keep itself in the game before a halftime pep talk inspired the beleaguered Owls.

“In the second half we just came out and played a totally different game, the way we knew how to play,” Wilcox said. “It helped, with a steal right away and the momentum change.”

That steal, by senior point guard Maya Marder, led to a fast break and turned the tide, culminating in the fourth quarter when the Owls shot 5-of-11 and kept the game out of reach.

Northwest School, having trouble getting the ball inside, decided to rely on the three-ball in the second half, but only made two of its 20 total attempts from downtown.

It definitely wasn’t the prettiest of wins, but with the Owls now at 7-2 in league play and 9-3 overall, they’ll take it and run.

“We’ve been working on being really basic with what we do, but emphasizing being crisp with our passes and executing,” said Wilcox on what she’s worked on most with her group. “When we talk and communicate on defense, we’re successful. We’re picking up little things that make our game more sharp… they really accept that and helps change their game.”

Overlake senior Jessica Elliott led all scorers with 10, followed by Marder with nine and freshman forward Vanessa Rosato with six.

With the win, the Owls improved to 7-2 in league play and 9-3 overall which put them in a tie for second place with Cedar Park Christian.

UNDER PRESSURE

The Owls have definitely played their fair share of tight ball games this season, from a 61-60 double-overtime win over Cedar Park sandwiched in between a pair of one-possession losses to Northwest and Bellevue Christian.

According to Wilcox, her team has grown by leaps and bounds after grinding through those tough games.

“You don’t ever want to be in those one-possession games,” she said. “I feel like it’s taught the girls that they have to execute, and you never really think about the little things until you lose by two points.”

But with the Owls well on their way to a postseason berth, it may be time to focus on the details to refine their chances to make a run at state.

“It’s given them a little bit of a passion to say ‘we know we can beat these teams, but we have to demonstrate it for four quarters,’” Wilcox explained. “They struggled with that, those were tough losses and a tough win, they went away tired, but if we can take away little things and learn from them each time, then we’re going to be a better team.”

The Owls play on the road tonight at 6 p.m. against league rival Cedar Park, who are anxiously awaiting a rematch of their tough loss to Overlake earlier this season.

To see more pictures from this game, please visit photographer Matt Campbell’s Web site at http://www.sportspixs.com