Lady Owls Outduel Lady Rams as Oakton Community College Defeats Wright

The Lady Rams had their hands full on Nov. 15 when they traveled to Des Plaines, Illinois, to take on the Oakton Community College Lady Owls.

Things started off extremely slow for the Lady Rams. They didn’t score their first basket until the second quarter, and found themselves in a very deep hole, down 27-0 after the first quarter.

The Lady Owls were an extremely well-disciplined and well-coached team with six returning players from last year's team. They easily found all their spots over the court and were attacking the Lady Rams in all aspects of the game. Defensively they were giving nothing up, their defense swarmed fast and even gave Wright trouble getting the ball across halfcourt. Offensively they were clicking on all cylinders and were able to get to the paint with ease, getting the ball to forward Amy Campbell and center Jade Thomas. Their outside scoring was just as powerful, with Guards Ellie Reynolds and Madison Dorband making a fair share of their teams 3-pointers.

Head coach of the Rams, Zaporia Smith, felt the pressure saying, “once we found ourselves behind with a deficit like that, it was hard to find a way to score or get anything going."

Jaysha Roman at the free throw line

The Lady Owls had plenty of players get in the scoring column, but no player had a bigger impact than Jade Thomas. About a foot taller than everyone on the court, she was able to use her frame to back people down and convert easy looks. Even if she didn’t score the first time, she was able to get the rebound and convert on her second or third look. Wright tried different matchups against her, but none were able to stop her. On defense she was also a problem, she had 3 blocks and always bothered any Wright player that stepped in the paint.

Jade Thomas setting herself up in the post

At halftime, the Lady Rams trailed 57-12, and when coming out of the half, it was much of the same. When the Rams got into their offensive sets, they were frustrated on nearly every single touch, leading to double-digit turnovers in each quarter.

The Lady Rams only were able to score four total points in the second half of the game, as the Lady Owls cruised to a 101-16 victory.

Smith is looking to put this game in the past and said, despite the result, “We have two games this week that we have to be ready for.”